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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Ive not really thought about this. [b]Men are always Mr, married, single divorced. [/b]Seems like women should be referred to by a similarly relationship neutral term.

The only time I ever have to select one is when booking flights. I think I just put Ms. I didnt change my last name so I'm never sure what Im supposed to put. [/quote]

Only now because the language evolved.  A couple of hundred years ago, Mister meant married head of household.  Master was the term used for unmarried or dependent men.  The language evolved to use Mister for all men regardless of marital status or dependency.  Just like the language has evolved to use Ms. (Miz) for all women regardless of marital status.

But all said, freedom of expression means that each individual gets to decide which term/practice they wish to use.[/quote]

A couple [b]hundred[/b] years ago, in fact, well into the 19th century, master meant head of household while the female equivalent was mistress. And a household meant an establishment, including servants and workers like apprentices. Poor people or simpler households were never considered as having master or mistress, which is why poorer people were never addressed as Mr. or Mrs. but as John X or Jane Doe till the early 19th century (one of the radical changes following the American revolution was the widespread adoption of addressing all adults as Mr. or Mrs. or Miss, when previously it was reserved for the well off established people broadly recognized as gentlefolk. And well into the 20th century master and mistress were still commonly used in reference to the employers of domestic help in both England and America, even if no one outside the help or service people used those terms. I'm sure we've seen those comics of salesmen knocking at the door and asking to see the master or mistress followed with some comic joke. That's why master persisted for a long time to refer to head of household (and the master bedrooms we now have).

Master was never used to solely refer to unmarried or dependent men because they generally were not head of households. But as you pointed out, language does evolve and we did have master being used for young boys living at home, but this really emerged out of the sons of the prosperous householder, the servants would refer to the boys as "young Master Tom/William/Henry". [/quote]

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