Talk:Miss

Term of respect

 * In the United Kingdom, Miss is often used to address female teachers without using their name, regardless of marital status.

Is "Miss" or "Ms." used alone as a term of respect in inner city regions of the US? --zandperl 20:00, 30 August 2005 (UTC) In the United States, "Miss" used as a term of respect.71.206.136.193 (talk) 11:05, 27 October 2012 (UTC)

Portuguese
The correct term is Senhorita. The word Meninha does not exist in Portuguese. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.151.151.3 (talk) 19:53, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Jane Austen
Jane Austen's novels use the term "Miss" ("Miss Elizabeth Bennett"), which suggests it was in use before the Victorian era.

Pronunciation
How do you pronounce the Russian word ""?
 * I've gone ahead and removed that line since it doesn't have an entry. - Dalassa 23:38, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Neutrality
This article gives the impression that "Miss" is no longer used. While usage has diminished, it still remains in use. Any opinions? 172.162.129.51 03:55, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
 * This article gives examples of where both Miss is and isn't currently used. So I don't see where is says the term is no longer in use.Dalassa 20:40, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Well since no one has responded to my points about neutrality I am going to go ahead and pull the tag from the article. Dalassa 01:30, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Current usage of Miss restored
As per note above, this article once gave the inaccurate impression that Miss was no longer in use. Part of the remedy to that is providing examples of usage of Miss. The paragraph that was removed gives three such examples. Here is an example application form.
 * 1) Miss Jones, a particular individual, sufficiently well known to have a Wiki entry.
 * 2) An example of a formal setting from a very recent film.
 * 3) Finally, it points to the wide practice of collecting preference for title from people via forms in hard copy or electronic.

Please feel free to add to the examples, especially if there is some means of verifying them. If you can think of other examples that are common knowledge, like the application forms, I won't revert you just because you haven't made an arbitrary selection of source for common practice. However, you will be at risk from those who take offence at others using the title Miss.

Arguably it is worth discussing the fact that some do argue that women should not be allowed to use the term Miss, because in their perception this is sexist. Personally, I find it hard to see that removing a liberty constitutes freedom, but it is a subtle question.

Finally, regarding the edit note suggesting that three examples of usage of Miss were irrelevant and should be included at Ms. I need the logic spelled out more clearly for me. I would have thought that examples of usage of Miss belonged at Miss, rather than Ms. Alastair Haines (talk) 04:13, 29 November 2007 (UTC)


 * NZ prime minister Helen Clark prefers to be called "Miss" rather than "Mrs", even though she is married. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.143.71.204 (talk) 14:02, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Plural
The plural of mister is messrs. What is the plural of miss? --Camaeron (talk) 20:28, 19 February 2008 (UTC) The plural of Miss is Misses.Annielou22 (talk) 17:49, 29 August 2008 (UTC)
 * The Misses Jones is the old-fashioned plural, occasionally used when formality is required, e.g. in printed lists of guests present, etc.; otherwise the type the Miss Joneses is now usual. --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:01, 7 July 2021 (UTC)

Certificate of the Misses and Miss title in the United States of America
Here are the Certificates of the Misses and Miss titles in the United States of America created by myself for public domain. (example)





70.181.249.210 (talk) 01:23, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Offensiveness
"Miss instead of Ms." is given as an example of disrespectful language in the Random House guide to sensitive language (mirrored here). Has anyone heard of this? .froth. (talk) 07:07, 9 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I have heard of people taking offense where none is intended. Following etiquette includes not correcting the etiquette breaches of others. If it is that big a deal one can say, upon "offensively" being called "miss", "You may call me Ms. Jones." 74.102.165.10 (talk) 19:30, 5 April 2012 (UTC)

Presumptive or presumptuous?
Presumptive is the correct term, see these definitions from the Collins dictionary:

presumptuous (prï'zômptjùûs)  adj. 1. characterized by presumption or tending to presume; bold; forward. 2. an obsolete word for. presumptive (prï'zômptïv)  adj. 1. based on presumption or probability. 2. affording reasonable ground for belief. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Axel-berger (talk • contribs) 23:49, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

No, I don't agree. Here's the definition of presumptuous from Merriam-Webster: "too confident especially in a way that is rude : done or made without permission, right, or good reason" http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/presumptuous. That's a pretty standard definition of the way presumptuous is typically used, and that's closer to the intended meaning in this article ("and it is presumptuous to assume marital status based solely on apparent age"). I can't see how presumptive is appropriate, even with the Collins definition. Doesn't make sense to me. Omc (talk) 01:28, 14 February 2015 (UTC)

Appropriate for single mothers?
Since single mothers are deemed to be unmarried women, is it correct to address such women as Miss ? If the mother has a daughter, then there's a need to distinguish the two if their surname is used in shorthand. Example, the older Miss refers to the mother and the younger Miss refers to the daughter. SignOfTheDoubleCross (talk) 07:46, 24 June 2016 (UTC)

?
Using Miss as a vocative, not followed by a name or surname, as in Hullo, Miss, sounds vulgar, and perhaps offensive, doesn’t it?151.73.18.59 (talk) 03:56, 20 September 2016 (UTC)

Use of the title Miss, followed by a first name
In the southern United States, it is common to address all women, no matter their age, as "Miss" followed by their first name. This is also practiced for men, using "Mister" followed by their first name. Many people from the south consider people from other parts of the country disrespectful when they don't follow this cultural tradition. I am curious as to the history of this form of address. Jilllewis (talk) 16:41, 4 March 2018 (UTC)

This article is a total mess / the "mizz" pronunciation
Please, can someone rewrite this from scratch to distinguish between usage in the US and elsewhere, and also keep it a lot shorter and less weirdly worded? Thank you! I arrived here to look up the usage of the "mizz" pronunciation, and it does an awful job of explaining it. -- 23:34, 21 January 2020 79.144.148.97

Usage in England in Jane Austen's time
In England in Jane Austen's time (the early 19th century), "Mrs." could be used somewhat widely (for respectable married working class women, for senior female servants, such as housekeepers, who weren't young) and sometimes loosely (for never-married middle- and upper-class women who were at least middle-aged). But the usage of "Miss" was much stricter, only applying to never-married women of the "genteel" classes (it was almost never applied to servants and such). Not sure where there could be a reliable source for this (I basically stopped reading scholarly stuff in this area 20 years ago...). AnonMoos (talk) 17:34, 15 August 2023 (UTC)