smg@burl.UUCP (GEDDIS) (09/23/83)
About the discussion of Ms/Miss/Mrs: The "title" is not "cold and impersonal". This is a choice and a decision that men don't normally have to make. I choose not to "default" to Miss. As a single female before marriage, I used Miss. The definition to me was that I had never been married, I was unmarried, I was a Miss. I then became married, and accepted the Mrs. At this point, the single person changed the name and became his name (I never understood why he didn't like my single name and chose to accept that--that was before the era of hyphenated names.) From this point, until the divorce, I ceased being my single name identity and became Mrs. His Name. After the divorce, I chose to revert to my maiden name and my identity again. Also, at this time, I made a decision. I was not a Miss, I was older, I had been married (to me, the "Southern idea" of Miss Annie, never married spinister cropped up). I was not a Mrs. His Name anymore. (The notion of clinging to his name, his identity, and to the fact that I was once married was appalling.) I decided to use Ms. To me, the "title" Ms. means to me that I am female--period. If one wants to write a letter and requires a M? before my name, I prefer Ms. because that means female. To me, Ms. is equivalent of Mr. Men, at this time in our society, don't change their "title" to denote a state of being single or married. -- Sharon Geddis -- 919-228-4913 (Cornet 291) ...![ floyd sb1 mhuxv ]!burl!smg