Egad! What a confusion of questions, Uche!
"Mr" means a male, could be married could be unmarried. "Mrs" means (in the
States, at least) a married female. "Miss" means an unmarried female. That
is, if they are used as titles, i.e., immediately before a person's
name(s).
Feminists (female and male) in the USA sought and succeeded in the 1960s to
offer the alternative "Ms" so that females could opt for a title that, like
males, did not "speak" their marital status. My own taste and response has
been that I don't like any of the titles and do not use any of them, if
possible. I don't like "Mrs" and I don't like "Ms", and I don't like "Mr".
They seem entirely unnecessary in ordinary circumstances.
Now, though, we're talking about addressing a president. Since I've bot
much notion of the connotations connected with "Madam" or "Miss" or
"Mistress' or "Mister" or "Master", I'll bow out of the discussion and be
eager to hear what you and others say about it.
My feeling about you is that you've always been a staunch feminist; hence, I
was surprised that you said "Mrs. President" and equally surprised at your
upset with my reply. What's going on? What's the hot button here to which
you're responding?
Judy
On 8 May 2010 16:39, Uche Ogbuji <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 2:28 PM, Judy Prince <[log in to unmask]
> >wrote:
>
> > "Clearly when Hilary Clinton or Michelle Obama take office, we'll call
> her
> > Mrs. President"???? Do we now call Barack Obama
> Mr---married---President?
> >
> > Get with modernisms oh Uche!
> >
>
> So you're saying that the sexism is in the fact that we differentiate
> married and unmarried titles for women rather than men. I tend to be frank
> about such things. I find that very petty. But even if I accept that,
> then
> your problem is with the title, and not the "President" part, and so it
> doesn't really go with the point you were trying to make. And are you also
> campaigning to strip "Mr" and "Mrs" out of everyday use as well, as you
> should if you were being consistent. Do you beat up on anyone who calls
> you
> Ms. or Mrs. Prince? Actually, more to the matter, do you beat up on anyone
> who calls someone sitting next to you on a bus "Mr. Smith"?
>
> I know you intended no more than an off-hand comment, but I've always
> thought words such as "sexist", "racist" and such are dangerous and loaded,
> and should be used with caution. I've been sitting for a while on a
> "Tongue
> of Warcraft" piece for TNB in which I complain that people seem to be
> tripping all over themselves to politically criminalize almost every
> possible means of expression, and that almost anything we can express can
> be
> construed as offensive to some group.
>
>
> --
> Uche Ogbuji http://uche.ogbuji.net
> Founding Partner, Zepheira http://zepheira.com
> Linked-in profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ucheogbuji
> Articles: http://uche.ogbuji.net/tech/publications/
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>
--
"If we'd stopped at the number ten, everything would be great."
Jeff Hecker, Norfolk VA
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