A keen eyed reader has spotted this delightful article on the demise of the word ‘mademoiselle’ in official French government documents.
We’re all madams now, so to speak.
Or we are, in France and India anyway.
Make of that what you will.
Read the full story here on the BBC.
Or slightly more oddly at the link below in of all things Pravda online…
http://english.pravda.ru/society/stories/24-02-2012/120599-mademoiselle-0/
Even stranger – that Pravda link requires you to swipe and drop it in a browser… because I can’t get it to link directly like a standard (none ex-Soviet link). Unsettling control of inbound link perhaps? Entertaining, but definitely unsettling.
Do let me know if you also see anything that might be of interest here – sharing articles, thoughts, freaky word formations. All contributions gratefully accepted!
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This seems to be a very compromised solution? I agree it’s wrong to have a woman’s title declare her marital status, but using ‘Madame’ will just confuse the issue, since it will continue to imply that a woman is married? But I have to comment – most ‘government forms’ will still ask you whether you’re married, single, divorced or widowed, so this is just semantics, rather than a change in perceptions, or attitudes about equality. Why is a woman required to adopt her husband’s family name? Surely this is a far bigger issue?
No I think the idea is that once everyone is a Madame, then there will be no implication about marital status. Like ‘comrade’ is marital (and gender) neutral.
That would be the point – you’ve got to start somewhere. In French there’s no gender neutral version like Ms in English.
And of course in many countries women DON’T adopt their husbands surname – Spain for instance. Or India.