Ms

i see this word in my son's english book.i look it up in a dictionany,and find that it is used to address a woman without mentioning she is married or not.
the dictionary says ,it is pronunced like /maz/.but one day when i came to the school to pick up my son,i heard the teacher pronunced it /misas/.

who is right?

by the way,is this word old fasioned?i have learned english all my life,but it is the first that i meet this word.

It's pronounced "mizz" and was introduced by feminists as an alternative to "Mrs" and "Miss." The idea was that men only had one title ("Mr") whether married or single, so women should have one title too.

It's in fairly widespread use now, but it always helps to ask a woman what she prefers. Some don't mind "Ms" but some married women still prefer "Mrs."

Interestingly, "Mrs" is not short for "Mister's wife" but rather "Mistress" so I'm not entirely sure what all the fuss is really about.

But of course, I AM a man.

Here's how it works:

Mr. (mister) = any man

Miss (miss) = single woman
Mrs. (missiz) = married woman
Ms. (mizz) = any woman

<<by the way,is this word old fasioned?>>

No, as JJM said, it's actually newer than Miss and Mrs.

I agree with the explanations of both JJM and Lazar regarding the meaning of 'Ms'. It is also interesting to note that Asian and Hispanic Americans were not influenced by most of the things of the so-called "Sixties Revolution" as were many White Americans, including Feminism, and it has payed off for them too. For example, they have lower divorce rates, more traditional nuclear families and in some cases higher incomes and admissions into college etc.

Erratum: payed off > paid off

/me glares coldly at Brennus.

Ms looks weird and sounds even weirder. Who uses it? I've yet to meet a Ms....but I don't give a flying toss whether I do or don't.

Now I guess I'll be glared at coldly. See if I care...I don't know much about it anyway. :-)

I totally agree with you, Damain including your last paragraph. I will go on speaking the truth as I see it in spite of the 'cold glares'.

Damian, that wasn't the part I was glaring at Brennus about. Read his post before last a little more carefully, and then you should know what I have issue with in it.

I prefer Ms. myself, but then I'm allergic to the idea of marriage. But "miss" to me sounds old-fashioned and condescending.

OK TRAVIS...sorry......no offence meant at all.

We had loads of discussions on this sort of issue when I was at uni...I had my eyes opened there in lots of ways but hey! isn't that what it's meant to be?

I prefer Ms., as well. And if I'm sending a letter to a lady whose marital status is unknown to me, "Ms." is always the better option.

Gee, not to quibble, Brennus, but I don't think Hispanic-Americans are reaping the benefits of having sidestepped feminism and the sexual revolution. The ones around here have a high rate of domestic violence, alcoholism, poverty, and teen pregnancy -- and one sixteen-year-old mother said that it wasn't until she had her second child (and all of her sisters had also become teenage parents) that ANYONE explained the basics of sex and reproduction to her --- so, yeah. Just not getting divorced as often isn't a sure sign of enlightenment and bliss.

>>I prefer Ms. myself, but then I'm allergic to the idea of marriage. But "miss" to me sounds old-fashioned and condescending. <<

"Miss" sounds just the same to me, but then, I don't really use "Ms." much either, as I generally just use first names rather than things like such under most circumstances, with "Mrs." really only being used under relatively limited circumstances itself, such as when referring to teachers in grade school, individuals who I know's mothers, and female individuals who are I know who are married where I know them as being a member of a married couple rather than just individually. In all of these cases I would use "Mr." for male individuals in the circumstances. As for "Miss" or "Ms.", practically the only cases where I would use such is to refer to teachers in grade school, and which of "Ms.", "Miss", and "Mrs." I would use depending just on the particular preference of the individual in question. In practically all other circumstances where one might use "Miss" or "Ms." I would probably just use first names, or some title if such is applicable and either when such is the standard practice (such as with doctors) or when I feel like being markedly formal.

As for Brennus, well, it's now clearly established that he's a complete reactionary, at least with respect to certain kinds of things...