We are in a debate at work for the meaning of these abbreviations. Can you help us?

Mrs. = Mistress, and refers to a married woman, because she is the mistress of her husband's house or estate. W/o the abbreviation she would be referred to as, for example, Mistress Johnson. Of course mistress w/a lower case 'm' is a kept woman, and is not a title.

Miss is not an abbreviation and refers to any unmarried female of any age when used w/a last name. Used w/a first name, it is a polite but familiar form of address used to a social superior. For example, young persons might address an elderly woman who is not entitled to be Aunt Barbara or Cousin Barbara as Miss Barbara, even if she is married. Slaves and other servants used to refer to white women so, but also their own elders.

Ms. is not exactly an abbreviation. It is a title created by feminists for females who do not wish to announce their marital status for whatever reason. I believe it is based on the old southern usage of Miz as a polite form of address toward a woman whose marital status you do not know, but I'm not sure about that.

If you're not sure how a particular woman prefers to be addressed, ask, because many feel quite strongly about whatever their choice mght be. Of course, if she has a job title that lends itself to this sort of usage, you can always address her as Professor Johnson or Superintendent Johnson

Boys and young men used to be addressed as Master, which was not abbreviated: There goes young Master Johnson. Currently boys have no title in use, and young men use Mr.

Mr. = Mister, and applies to any adult man.

All are abbreviations for the word mistress.

It seems that in early years (first reference around the 17th century) there was no real distinction between Miss and Mrs. They were used interchangeably.

Missus is only a regional spelling sometimes associated with Mrs.

Ms. (pronoused miz) oddly is only about 100 years old and was introduced as the generic term due to the growing distictions between Miss and Mrs

Mrs. means she's married or widowed.

Ms. is the abbreviation for Miss and refers to an unmarried woman or a girl.

I am not sure where your passion comes from to speak out like this but I don't really think that us Brits have some misguided upper-hand downer of the American people. The Americans are simply like any other nation, struggling to cope in a very difficult world. World tensions have never been higher and we need to stick together to give us half a chance in the current volatility. The Americans are a great race but like the British, we all make mistakes in this world. The Brits have had some great leaders over the years, as have the Americans. Currently, I am aware that the Americans are highly critical of their president and I think that's where current poor opinion of US policy may stem from. A good president can make or break your country. So until that's decided, lets stay allies ... kick the past into touch and move forward. Personally? I have a great passion for American people ....

Technically, it's like this:

Mrs. was originally short for "mistress" (the male is a "mister") and in English it was a courtesy title for a woman who is or was married. You pronounced it "missus."

Ms. was originally short for "miss" (the male is a "master") and was the courtesy title for a woman who was not of age and/or who was not married. You pronounced it "miss."

Nowadays, we use Ms. for any lady and it does not necessarily assume a marital status. It's now sort of a neutral combination of Mrs. and Ms. I do not think that "Miss" is its own title -- you can use Ms. and most people say it "miz."

But don't forget Mz., which is what independently minded women came up with for themselves many decades ago because they thought it did not seem fair for them to have to designate themselves as married or single, while men had only one title (Mr.), the marital status of which was not indicated. It's not used much anymore, but it was pronounced "miz," too.

-Mrs. refers to a married woman.

-Miss refers to an unmarried woman, if she prefers this title.

-Ms. refers to any woman, married or unmarried, who prefers to use this title, usually because she feels it's not pertinent whether she's married or not. I believe this came out of the Women's Movement in the 60s & 70s. After all, the title Mr. does not tell you whether a man is married or not.

Mrs. But , in my opinion, Lady can be more a definition for a educate woman, a "classic" one.

Mrs. = married woman

Ms. = woman, whether married or not

Miss = unmarried woman