>>The whole caper could be dispensed with by simply considering it polite to address people by their given names.<<
Yes, I do this a lot, and I prefer to be called Bridget rather than anything else. (And I bet I'm older than you, William, but that Mr / Mrs / Ms / Miss in shops is still disturbing to me too.)
If people ask I say I'm Ms - I'm not a Mrs as I've never been married, but after years in a live-in relationship, Miss seems equally inappropriate.
I'm actually Bridget Holland and my partner is Steve Doughty. I get called Mrs Holland, Mrs Doughty, Ms Holland, Miss Holland and so on. I answer to anything as long as it's clear that it's me who is meant and as long as it's not too rude.
I don't care what surname is used - as I look at it I can use my father's or my partner's. I don't feel either is particularly mine.
The one form of address I really objected to was a boss of mine (Japanese) who used to call me 'O-ne-chan'. This is literally 'Sister' and is used as a term of address for an unknown young female. (Much as I imagine 'Miss' on its own was used in earlier times. Or as in 'O-ne-chan, would you make some coffee.' But putting feminism aside...)
...what drove me mad about this was that the guy knew my name and couldn't be bothered to use it. There were four young women in the office who could have been meant by 'O-ne-chan' and he just saw us as interchangeable. My identity was irrelevant, let alone my marital status!
I stopped answering until he started addressing me by name.
