#3734
07/22/2000 10:05 PM
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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>I've always found it somewhat strange that there are three formal addresses for the female, but only one for the male. I think until fairly recently Master was used in the same way as Miss. I didn't have a brother but I always remember being told to address birthday cards to my neigbour's son as "Master John Smith". The main difference was that one became Mister at some point, independently of marriage. An alternative address for a man was John Smith Esquire or Esq. but never Mr. John Smith Esq. and I remember being told that you couldn't be an Esquire until you were a householder. http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/netdict?esquireI'm not sure how much Esquire is used these days, except as a title for a magazine.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Apparently both male and female American lawyers put Esq. after their names.
Bingley
Bingley
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>Apparently once an unmarried woman reaches a certain age she is called Madame out of respect, whether or not she is married. The impression she was given was - we've waited all this time for you to get married, so now we've given up on you and given you the title anyway!
Here in Spain is the same with señorita and señora but I’m remembering an anecdote of a friend of mine that what just the contrary of what you have told.
She, who is 50 unmarried but not single, was asked by a clerk: “Señora o señorita?” and she was offended by the question and answered “I’m of an age and got category enough to be called señora!”.
The problem lies on the necessity of some societies of marking women depending their marital status or age. It could be considered as a mark of availability señorita/mademoiselle if she is available or señora/madam if she has “owner”. Since men are always available such distinction isn’t necessary.
I’m puzzled by not finding a stronger movement against those kind of distinctions that seem to me completely derogatory.
>If I am asked for a title I say Ms. I have been a Ms. since I was 13 or 14, I suppose. I decided I didn't want to be a Miss any longer. I retained my original name on marriage, as did many of my friends. I am the final member of a large family. I thought I might as well let the name die with me, rather than discarding it on marriage.
Another thing I cannot understand is how in most countries women lose their names after marriage. Here not only they keep their names but we have a new law that give the parents the right to choose which name, mother’s or father’s, will be inherited by their children. If we have had this law twelve years ago I would have chosen my wife’s name for my sons.
Juan Maria.
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
If we have had this law twelve years ago I would have chosen my wife’s name for my sons.
Don't answer if you don't want to Juanmaria, but can we ask why?
Bingley
Bingley
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#3738
07/31/2000 12:27 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>I would have chosen my wife’s name for my sons.
Bennett Cerf told the story of the Jewish matron who turned up at a gala affair sporting a very large diamond brooch. A woman to whom she was introduced gushed to her, "Mrs. Lipschitz, I am so happy to meet you. And could you please tell me about that exquisite diamond."
Our heroine replied, "It's the famous Lipschitz diamond. It came down to me from my husband's mother, who got it from her husband's mother. It is beautiful, but it does carry the Lipschitz curse."
The other woman gasped. "And what is the Lipschitz curse?"
"Lipschitz."
TEd
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>Don't answer if you don't want to Juanmaria, but can we ask why? Of course!. My wife’s name is Alfageme and it is of Arabic origin, there are only a few Alfageme in Spain and only a couple of them in my city (including my wife and my sister in law  ). I love my mother’s name -Alexandres- another uncommon one, it is not a Spanish name an its origins can be traced to several centuries ago when king Carlos III brought families from central Europe to colonize some areas of Spain. My mother has only a sister and when, being a kid, I understood that her name was doomed it seemed to me totally unfair. Maybe that is the reason I dislike so much the rules of name inheritance. Juan Maria.
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Carpal Tunnel
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>>and when, being a kid, I understood that her name was doomed it seemed to me totally unfair. Maybe that is the reason I dislike so much the rules of name inheritance.
You are very sweet!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Whoa! That was my rite of post-age. Actually, the title fit quite a long time before it was officially bestowed.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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So would you like to be called Mrs. Addict, Miss Addict or Ms. Addict?
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Carpal Tunnel
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>So would you like to be called Mrs. Addict, Miss Addict or Ms. Addict?
Or perhaps a simple "Highness" would do???
Ted glances ruefully at his "newbie" title
TEd
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>>So would you like to be called Mrs. Addict, Miss Addict or Ms. Addict?
I will attempt a weak imitation of Ted and Tsu-nami-wum:
I was on vacation at the Grand Canyon, out in Arizona. I signed up for a trail ride down to the bottom, and who should I find in the party but those two? When we stopped for lunch, Ted began spreading sandwiches and handing them out. Tsuwm said, "Don't you know I have arachibutyrophobia?" Ted replied, "Here's one that's just jelly." And I said, "Oh, how I miss a dictionary."
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#3745
08/01/2000 10:20 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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arachibutyrophobia
Fear of peanut butter? God, if you had Fear of Flying to go with that you'd have REAL trouble with Plains! (Georgia, that is!)
As you know my wife is a recovering attorney. But before she started to recover, she lived in Baltimore, on the harbor, during the period when there was a great deal of construction. In fact, the construction at night kept her awake, and she finally filed a lawsuit to stop it. Of course it became known in legal circles as Port Noise Complaint. I knew you'd be waxing Roth if I mentioned Jong with mentioning him.
TEd
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#3746
08/01/2000 11:10 PM
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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it's not just any old fear of peanut butter, but the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth!
and speaking of lawyers, God decided to take the devil to court and settle their differences once and for all. When Satan heard of this, he grinned and said, "And just where do you think you're going to find a lawyer?"
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stranger
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stranger
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Replying to the original question on this thread first asked by musthaq in June, people may be interested to know the following. In the time of George Fox Quakers were real troublemakers. They refused to take oaths, serve in military forces or pay taxes to support the established church. The would not doff their hats or bow to any authorities or Lords of the Manor, being of the belief that each person in a community was of equal worth. So in using "thee" and "thou" they were showing how firmly they held to this principle. In the 17th century, "thou" was used when one was speaking to a person of a lower class and "you" when talking with equals or persons of superior rank. The terms thee and thou are sometimes used by Quakers today.
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