British words

[jenfold at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 18891

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., joym999 at a... wrote:
> I wanted to add my name to the chorus of Americans who HAVE heard 
the 
> word "tripe" used to mean "nonsense."  This may be a regional 
thing; 
> remember the "out of pocket" discussion?
> 
> Also, Amy Z.  said that she hoped that the word "Miss" has, more 
> recently, been replaced with "Ms." in British public schools.

 Public schools I have no idea about, as for some reason (why I know 
not) schools which are called public schools in the UK are actually 
fairly exclusive private schools such as Eton or 'Smeltings.'

 What Americans call public shools we call state schools.
 
  While I have noticed that in Ms. is commonly used in the U.S., 
especially 
> in professional situations, I get the impression that this is less 
> true in the U.K.  Is it true that Brits are more like to use Miss 
and 
> Mrs. than Americans are?  (Although I have to agree with Amy -- I 
> dont like being called Miss OR Mrs. at all, especially in a 
> professional setting.  What does my marital status have to do with 
> professional abilities?)

 Sorry! But yes you're right Miss is most commonly used in schools to 
address female teachers regardless of marital status. Although don't 
most american children address female teachers as Ma'am, or is that 
just a common misconception promoted by the peanuts comic strip? 
While male teachers are addressed as either Mr or Sir depending on 
context. Although having said that at my High School we had one 
female teacher who was married but had kept her maiden name and 
demanded that we called her Ms, which caused no problems it's just 
not in widespread use. 

 As for outside school in my experience if someone doesn't know your 
marital status you're most likely to be called Miss (of course I'm 
only 20 and not very likely to be a Mrs yet.) but if you wished to be 
addressed as Ms people will use that. I must admit at the moment the 
title I'm addressed by doesn't bother me, although in the future it 
may.

 Jen