(no subject)
I noticed when reading my school yearbook that there seems to be no distinguishable reason why, in places, the word "Miss" is used for a single woman's title, and in other places the abbreviation "Ms." is used. It seems that "Miss" was used more often with younger women, but that was not always the case. I know the yearbook staff at my school is a bit on the dim side, but I thought I'd ask:
When do you use "Miss" and when do you use "Ms.", or is there even really a difference? The only thing that I could come up with is the fact that "Ms." seems to be slightly more respectful.
Also: how do you pronounce the terms? When it's written as "Miss", it tends to be pronounced as spelled, but with "Ms." it is more often (at least where I'm from, in Southwestern Pennsylvania) pronounced "mizz."
EDIT: For clarification, I am referring to staff/faculty listings in the first paragraph, not students. Additionally, an example of an older woman being called "Miss" was a Spanish teacher I had last year who had been teaching at the school for 30 years and was well over the age of 50, but unmarried, and was still referred to as "Miss X", not "Ms. X."
When do you use "Miss" and when do you use "Ms.", or is there even really a difference? The only thing that I could come up with is the fact that "Ms." seems to be slightly more respectful.
Also: how do you pronounce the terms? When it's written as "Miss", it tends to be pronounced as spelled, but with "Ms." it is more often (at least where I'm from, in Southwestern Pennsylvania) pronounced "mizz."
EDIT: For clarification, I am referring to staff/faculty listings in the first paragraph, not students. Additionally, an example of an older woman being called "Miss" was a Spanish teacher I had last year who had been teaching at the school for 30 years and was well over the age of 50, but unmarried, and was still referred to as "Miss X", not "Ms. X."