Date:    Thu, 5 Mar 1998 17:21:10 -0500
<br>From:    Alan Baragona  baragonasa[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]VAX.VMI.EDU 
<br>Subject: Re: Ms.
<br>
<br>Beverly Flanigan wrote:
<br> 
<br>  "Traditional" is a relative term, of course.  In general, 'Ms' is catching
<br>  on widely in the U.S. and bears little stigma (except in the South?  But
<br>  remember Ms. Lillian!).
<br>
<br>There may have been some newspapers who spelled it "Ms. Lillian," but I
<br>would just about
<br>bet the farm that it was Southern "Miz Lillian," which has absolutely
<br>nothing to do with "Ms." or the concept behind it.
<br>
<br> And in any case, the term is alive and well,
<br>  whether it "makes sense" or not.  BTW, I'm the opposite of your older PEI
<br>  woman: When addressed as Mrs., I say "Ms., if you please"--and I always get
<br>  a polite acceptance of it.  I teach a course on Language and Gender, and
<br>  students never have a problem with the term.
<br> 
<br>
<br>I'd agree that actual hostility to the term may have shrunk to Limbaugh
<br>sized pockets, but polite acceptance of the term when it is presented to
<br>them as a political choice doesn't necessarily mean that in its everyday
<br>use it hasn't been reinterpreted to fall into the older socio-political
<br>paradigm of "Mrs./Miss".  I don't even think it was conscious; I think
<br>it has simply become a matter of force of habit.
<br>
<br>Alan
<br>