Why, in english, is there only one title before a male surname (Mr), but three for a female (Ms, Mrs, Miss)?
549167
at different stages in a females life she deserves a different title.\n\nMs. is for a woman that you are not sure if she is married\n\nMrs. is for a woman that is married\n\nMiss is for young ladies that are under the age of 21
265968
My Grandpa's Cousin.\n\nThere is no family title that removed in common family nomenclature.  Perhaps family tree historians will disagree and you'll end up with something like "great third cousin" or something like that :))
863652
Here in the US, my experience as a child was to call adults Mr or Mrs (last name) as a sign of respect.  If the woman wasn't married, then it would be Ms (last name).  (Ms in that case means Miss, but I have also seen it used to abbreviated Mizz (sp?) - which is used if you don't know if the woman is married.  An example of that would be if you are writing a business letter and the woman to whom you are writing doesn't have a professional title and you don't know if she is married.  In that case, say "Dear Ms (last name).")  The use of Sir and Ma'am would be for older adults that you don't know.  (In other words, no last name is used because you don't know it.)  It has also been in my experience that when you are the same age as the person, you can address them by their first name if you are in that close of a relationship.  Some people with titles, regardless of age, should still have their titles used when addressing them.  One example is religious authorities - Pastor, Father, Rabbi.  When in doubt, if you know the person's name, call them Mr/Mrs/Ms (last name).  If you don't know their name, call them Sir or Ma'am.  It's better to err on the side of being too formal instead of disrespecting them.  Also, if you're not sure, ask them "How would you like me to address you?"  That will help you know if you should use a title, use a first name, etc.  I hope that's helpful.
724419
In Old English the words wer and wyf (also wæpman and wifman) were what was used to refer to "a man" and "a woman" respectively, and "Man" was gender neutral. In Middle English man displaced wer as term for "male human", whilst wyfman (which eventually evolved into woman) was retained for "female human". "Man" does continue to carry its original sense of "Human" however, resulting in an asymmetry sometimes criticized as sexist. [1] (See also Womyn.)\n\nWITHOUT\nONE\nMEN\nAIL\nMUCH
910522
mrs would be the proper one but people these days use Ms.  as a common ground
33712
Mrs. is the formal 'title' for a married woman (Madame or Mme. in French)\n\nMs. is the 'title' for a majority of divorced woman\n\nMiss is the formal 'title' for a female child until the age of 12 - or for a woman who has never married.  (Madamoiselle in French)
867905
As it has been said, there are some kind of "rules" linguists apply to determine the gender of a new word.\nNow, who "decides"?\nIn France, there is an institution called "l'Academie Francaise" which is usually the most influent authority on these matters, though the teams working on the dictionaries are also quite listened to.\nIn England, the English spoken by Cambridge-Oxford scholars is considered "standard".\n\nIn a nutshell, each country has its own system regarding the evolution of the language.
349595
I think his question is "Do we remember to be respectful?". He is very right, but not only regarding the president. People hardly ever say "Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms." I got married last July and very seldom has anyone called me "Mrs". You defiantly don't hear the terms "maam" "madam" or "sir" often!
1135970
The correct spelling is Messrs. with the full stop/period and it's basically the English equivalent of the plural of the French word 'monsieur' (meaning 'Mister') which is 'messieurs'. \n\nIt means the plural of 'Mister', and is pronounced pretty much "messuhz". It's quite archaic and regarded as rather formal. Its most frequent use seems to be when more than one 'Mister' signs a letter... "Regards, Messrs. Blake and Strong" for example.
242369
surnames, actually stem from the a person's title for royalty, and for other people it would come form their occupations, ex. Bob the Smith, of John the Taylor, and their family would be associated by the father.  over time it just caught on and surnames would evolve and transformed into what they are today
205019
Men  Women \nDuke  Duchess \nMarquis (MAR-kwis)  Marchioness (MAR-shon-ess) \nEarl  Countess \nViscount (vEYE-count)  Viscountess (vEYE-count-ess) \nBaron  Baroness \nKnight  Knight's lady \n\n\nRoyalty refers only to the monarch and his/her immediate family. \n\nNobility refers to peers and their families.
887675
She could be, but most women I know (including myself) use the form Ms.  It is not just for divorcees anymore!
690301
If you are talking about a masculin friend, it is "ami"\nIf you are talking about a femelin friend, it is "amie"\nHope my information is helpful
615535
If he is dressing as a woman, he more than likely wants to be treated as a woman.  If you wind up calling him Ms. or Mr. by accident don't think twice about it, because he's apparently being both.  You may want to just flat out ask him if he has a pronoun preference.
67688
Usually you list the man's name first.  When writing Mr. and Mrs---- It isn't usually the proper way to write it as Mr. and Mrs. Bob and Sue Smith.  Kind of like calling Bob a Mrs. ya know?  \n\nAlso, it is also written as Mr. and Mrs. Bob Smith, because if the wife took her husband's name, traditionally she takes the full name, calling herself Mrs. (husband's first name and lastname).
512267
Yes, prefixes like "Mc"/"Mac", "Fitz" and "O'" are called "patronymic prefixes" (a patronymic or patronym is part of a personal name based on the father's name).\n\n(Of course, there are also "patronymic suffixes", such as "-son", used in many European languages.)
95328
Female has an additional 'Fe' as a prefix.....