Do you you family name after "miss" or only after "mis"/"Mrs."

[roniy]

Do you use family names after "miss" or only after "mis"/"Mrs."
for example :

"miss Galan"

and miss it's for unmarried young woman, right ?

But I always hear people say : "Can I help you, miss/ma'am?"

Or " miss, stop it." or somthing like that, that's what comes to my head
and if this woman is married ??

How they know that she is not ?

Thanks.

 

[Moogey]

Do you use family names after "miss" or only after "Ms."/"Mrs."
for example :

"miss Galan"

And miss is for an unmarried young woman, right?

But I always hear people say: "Can I help you, miss/ma'am?"

Or "miss, stop it." or something like that, that's what comes to my head (mind)
and if this woman is married ??

How do they know that she is not ?

Thanks.

A woman can be called by "Miss Surname, Mrs. Surname, or Ms. Surname"

Miss is not necessarily for a young woman, it is for any woman that is unmarried.

Ms. is for a woman who does not want to reveal her marital status (maybe she's divorced and doesn't want to share that, for example).

Mrs. is for a married woman.

"Miss" is also a way to address a woman (to call her attention) but has nothing to do with her marital status when used this way, so it can apply to both married and unmarried women. I tend to find "miss" a more appropriate term of address for younger women and ma'am or madam for older women (even if she's in her 30's, maybe, even though that's not an old age ).

-M

 

[TrentinaNE]

Roniy, I'm sure there are some other threads about addessing people around here somewhere... But the short answer is:

• to address or get the attention of a man you don't know, you might say sir, or young man, depending on the relative ages involved: Excuse me, sir, is this your umbrella. May I help you, young man?
• to address or get the attention of a woman you don't know, you might say miss or madam/ma'am. Excuse me, ma'am, did you drop this handkerchief? May I help you with that package, miss?

You don't need to know marital status. The terms tend to vary more with the age of the person being addressed. Many females recall with dismay the day they were first ma'am'd.

Ms. is for a woman who does not want to reveal her marital status (maybe she's divorced and doesn't want to share that, for example).

Or used by women -- single, married, or otherwise -- who think a woman's marital status is irrelevant, just as the sole term of address, Mr., implies it is for men.

Elisabetta

 

[Kelly B]

I use "Miss" when I am trying to get the attention of a female person I don't know at all - if a woman left her purse in her chair, for example. In my region at least, it is acceptable as a generic term and much more polite than "hey, you!" Both Mrs. and Ms. sound odd as a way to call for someone's attention. Ma'am would work, but as Trentina said, it can imply that she's old.

If I am talking about a person I know a little bit, but not well enough to know her marital status, I'll use Ms. - I saw Ms. Johnson from school the other day and she said....