Mr. Miss Mrs. Ms ...?

These days, North America is becoming more and more casual so for many young people we have never used the terms Mr. Ms Miss and Mrs. They only time they are still used are in very formal situations or in business settings. I think they are more common in the UK, in Canada and the US people usually say something like:

I'm Robert Smith, but you can call me Bob.

People prefer to quickly establish a casual relationship. So the other week, I was reading a lesson and a woman was called Ms Yamada... and I wasn't sure exactly how to pronounce it-this kind of thing is really not important in North American society outside of a business environment. Anyways, I decided to do some research and find out how to pronounce all these honorifics(terms like -san, -sensei, -sama).

Mr. or Mister used for men.

Miss is used for unmarried women.

Mrs. or Missus is for married women, pronounced Missez.

Ms is pronounced Miz and was created in the 1960s by feminists who thought it was unfair that women were identified by their marital status and men were not.

All of these terms can be used on their own or with someones FAMILY NAME. Like, Mr. Smith or Ms Simpson. Do NOT use it with FIRST names--Mr. Philip, sounds very strange.

We also have the terms Sir and Madam which is sometimes pronounced ma'am. Now, these terms are usually used ON THEIR OWN, without family names. Sir Smith(last name) sounds very weird while Sir Philip(first name) means the knight Philip. Madam Julie(first name) sounds weird while Madam Smith(last name) is ok in British English but strange in North American English.

In North America, we use sir and ma'am when we want to be polite but don't know the persons name. So staff in nice hotels or restaurants will often use these terms. You might also see it in business letters when you don't know if a man or woman will receive the letter:

Dear Sir or Madam,

This sounds very polite and formal, more casual but still very businesslike is:

To whom it may concern,

Personally, I think Dear Sir or Madam sounds nicer. To whom it may concern sounds a bit cold.

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's lesson. Have a good week~!

Phil