labellementeuse | (no subject)

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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

: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.

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

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?)

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.