Word: ms
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Initially the three narrators are leading separate lives, yet it soon becomes clear that their three paths intersect through the events of a mysterious unsolved robbery and an elusive woman named Joan Rosen Klein. Each protagonist is searching for something related to both Ms. Klein and the crime, a search that carries them all down a communal path of violence, hatred, and destruction. Ellroy’s is a well-crafted foray into the dark-side of America, but the author’s attempt at absolute historic totality hinders the novels complete success. Ellroy’s desire...
...handy form of address, Ms. found a foothold in the 1952 guidelines of the National Office Management Association: they suggested using it to avoid any confusion over a woman's marital state. Twenty years later, when Ms. magazine was born, the editors explained, "Ms. is being adopted as a standard form of address by women who want to be recognized as individuals, rather than being identified by their relationship with a man." That same year, the U.S. Government Printing Office approved using Ms. in official government documents. (See the top 10 magazine covers...
Such developments left the New York Times - which that year ran a story headlined IN SMALL TOWN, U.S.A., WOMEN'S LIBERATION IS EITHER A JOKE OR A BORE - in the awkward position of identifying Gloria Steinem as "Miss Steinem, editor of Ms. magazine." At that point, even the late language guru William Safire called for surrender. The Times refused on the grounds that the title had not passed into common usage. "We reconsider it from time to time," the editors mused, but "to our ear, it still sounds too contrived for news writing." Only in 1986 did the Times relent...
Evolutionary biologists teach that tying a man linguistically to his wife and children increases the odds that he'll stick around to help raise them, so using Ms. with your birth name theoretically carries some risk. Over the years, surveys have found that such women were seen as less feminine, worse mothers, more dynamic, less attractive and better educated...
...come to realize that the main reason I've never resolved my title is that it's become O.K. not to care. Whether my children's friends call me Ms. Gibbs or Mrs. May or any combination of the two, I view it as a sign of respect and don't worry about the particulars. My husband never remotely suggested that he was bothered by my not taking his name; in fact, he's accustomed to occasionally answering to Mr. Gibbs. My late father, a fine writer, thrilled to see that name in the pages of this magazine. All these...