(no subject)

[labellementeuse]

1. "I think it's a kiwi." "Don't they only live in Australia or New Zealand?" *sob*

2. On "Ms." Not the magazine, the title. If I could make one single absolute change to the world, it would probably be Ms. Mrs. would be gone and Miss would be like Master - on the way out. I know that is a pretty bourgeois English-speaking problem, and obviously I could say, end poverty, hunger, violence. But I think those things are symptoms, not the disease, ad I think curing the disease is going to take more than one change. So: Ms.

Here are some of the things I think about Ms.

"Miss" implies this: You're a woman. You're unmarried. You probably don't have dependents and in fact might be dependent upon others. You're probably young = naive, and/or young = irresponsible, and/or young = don't need promotions/careers instead of jobs/pay raises.

"Mrs." implies this: You're a heterosexual woman. You're married. You're dependent (or codependent) upon others. You also have a good chance of having dependents, who might cause you to take time off work to go pick them up from school, look after them when they're sick, etc. This means you probably shouldn't get responsibilities in case you can't fulfill them because of that, even though you are more responsible than that Miss. You're dependent so you probably don't need that pay raise.

"Mr." implies this: You're a man and you're an adult.

Why would you let people who know, potentially, nothing about you than your name have all that extra information about you?

And these are only the most practical, boring reasons. For reasons that actually make me angry, check out a person paper on purity in language.

Comments

[semiramis.livejournal.com]

Word. Word word worditty word word word. I hate that about the English language.

Also, hahaha, I love that paper, although I'm pretty certain it's aimed at laypeople--talk about language purity to a linguist and they turn their nose up at you and call you a prescriptivist.

(...that's another one: I want it to be acceptable to use "they" in the singular. The usage has a long history! I do not understand why we persist in insisting it's wrong. English needs a gender-neutral third person singular that isn't disrespectful.)

[semiramis.livejournal.com]

Also, that bird is adorable, whatever it is.

[china_shop]

I want it to be acceptable to use "they" in the singular.

It is acceptable! The OED says so!<sup>1

1</sup>For certain editions of the OED.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, probably, Hofstader is like an essayist (He wrote Godel, Escher, Bach which I haven't read but is obviously like famous or whatevs... ;))

I kind of don't like "they", but I agree that introducing a gender-neutral pronoun would be good (and as China said, it is generally acceptable, I think.) Because I don't like "they" and am too nervous to use "zie", I usually go for "she".

[tauira.livejournal.com]

I use zie/hir online, but "they" in general conversation because I can't be bothered getting into the explanations. (In person it's all immediate; online I can walk away and come back as needed.)

Also, that bird looks nothing like a kiwi, what the hell?

[china_shop]

"I think it's a kiwi." "Don't they only live in Australia or New Zealand?" *sob*

*criez*

On "Ms."

A world of yes. And telemarketers always call up and ask for "Mrs [surname]", and it drives me nuts! *rage-stompyfeet* Otoh, it means that any time anyone calls up for "Mrs [surname]" I can tell them they have the wrong number and hang up immediately. :-P

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

IKR!?

Heheh, I usually get angry with them and say "there is no Mrs. Head here. There are three Ms. Heads. Which one are you looking for?" Be specific, y'all.

[squaringkarma.livejournal.com]

I really do prefer Ms above all else.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Saaaaaame.

[paintmarks.livejournal.com]

I always define myself as Ms, just to avoid those. I've even stopped including my date of birth on job apps to directly move away from people basing choices on age.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I still have it on there because I'm mostly not applying for jobs where it matters, but it's definitely a thing.

[sixth-light.livejournal.com]

Only one person has tried to call me Mrs. (Mike's last name) so far. I'm hoping I can keep it that low. Telemarketers ask for Mrs. [My Last Name] all the time, but that's just because I'm in the phone book, so I'm a little more philosophical about it.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

I'm not philosophical about that kind of thing because I really believe telemarketers should start with Ms. Especially because they're one of the very few groups of people (along with, what, bank tellers?) who still use titles in New Zealand, IMO it's really down to them to change, and I usually tell them so.

[kitsunerei88]

Totally completely agree.

My marital status is completely totally none of anyone's business unless they're paying me/my family benefits. Then I should just be able to check a box that indicates that and not go by Mrs at all. blah.

I'm not sure how I feel about changing my last name though. --'' I think I wouldn't want to, but I wouldn't be so adamant as to not come to a compromise over it.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

re: changing your last name. How exactly do you imagine you would compromise? Because compromise means both people giving. Usually when I see people saying they'll compromise they end up hyphenating and giving their children their husband's name, which is, um, not really a compromise, because one partner still isn't actually giving anything at all.

Um. I sort of feel strongly about that! :P

[kitsunerei88]

:D I get that. I'm not sure how I would compromise either, though I wouldn't mind my children having my husband's last name.

I used to feel really strongly about that, but my current boyfriend is pretty adamant about whoever he marries taking his last name, and I don't feel so strongly about it that I'd break up with him over it because he's definitely worth it, 310%. Or maybe 1000%. Or just infinity %.

Maybe that sounds really pathetic to you, but seriously - that's my perogative and I'm not changed at all by it.

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

Divide the children evenly between the two parent's surnames?

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

It's what my family does, so it's what I'd prefer to do, although I would also consider creating a melded name or a brand new one. (It's just that there's not a lot you can do with my last name, you know?)

[amarynth.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd have to know the surname of your intended co-parent before I could conclusively say there was nothing you could do with it! And yea, I realise that's premature. But, y'know, never say never.

[tauira.livejournal.com]

That person paper is amazing. Bookmarked!