invitations

[mrs767er]

I'm not trying to be smart but do you really address divorced women as Mrs? If anyone did that to me when I divorced [and I kept my ex-s name for quite a while--it's a real pain to do all the paperwork] I'd have to set them straight. I would be Miss or Ms but never Mrs--I would not be entitled to be referred to as married anymore.

[skibum515]

i wouldn't unless i knew they were referring to themselves as that. I'm putting down all single women (or married women with their original last name) as Ms.

[mrs767er]

I had to laugh because I read your reply the funny way--"putting down all single women" then I finished the next line--now, that was silly of me!!

[skibum515]

here ya go Kris, I looked it up!

Mrs.
Meaning: A married woman
Origin: Originally, Mrs. was a shortened version of mistress, a word that used to mean "wife" but has since acquired a very different meaning. Strictly speaking, because the word it once abbreviated has changed its meaning, Mrs. is no longer an abbreviation - unlike Mr., its male counterpart, which can be spelled out as Mister.

[mrs767er]

considering your photo--you are going to be one of the cutest couples to ever get married! Are you two happy, or what??

[SeatClutcher]

Originally Posted by skibum515

here ya go Kris, I looked it up!

Ah - ha!

Interesting. I wonder when the meaning for Mistress changed, and how? (just thinking aloud - I think I'll look that up later.)

[SeatClutcher]

Originally Posted by mrs767er

I'm not trying to be smart but do you really address divorced women as Mrs? If anyone did that to me when I divorced I'd have to set them straight. I would be Miss or Ms but never Mrs--I would not be entitled to be referred to as married anymore.

That struck me as funny, the way the "putting down single women" was to someone else. I think it's the word "entitled."

[mrs767er]

It was intentional--good catch! I would not be entitled to use the title Mrs. if divorced, nor would I consider it.

What's the old joke about someone who loves puns and after using pun after another (intended, again) without any chuckle or response, the punster got upset that not even one pun in ten did.? I think that's how it goes...

[lilpeanut]

I know exactly how you feel. I am getting Married in May. Chris and I had a "discussion" about the invitations. I googled wedding etiquette and all the sites gave the same info. Honestly, it is your day. Do whatever you want and love whatever you do!!

[Mrs.Alchemist]

Originally Posted by SeatClutcher

(I'm also a strong opponent of the oft-heard line, "It's just semantics." It's rarely ever "just" semantics. Words can shape perception.)

Well, to get off on a tangent for a moment, as I so often do... I REALLY started thinking about all of this when, in a prior life, I was dating a Mexican (the from a rancho in Mexico variety) and began to notice that it was quite common for his particular cirlce to use Señora (Mrs.) to refer to married women, AKA not virgins, and Señorita (Miss) to refer to virgins... Sometimes they would really go out of their way to emphasize the fact that a girl was a Señora and not a Señorita. (I am talking about their state of virtue here, not their marital status.) Maybe it stems from the rancho custom of being considered "married" before they were actually married...? The only real requirement to being "married" was to "steal" a girl (lit. robar una vieja), which consisted of meeting at a predetermined spot in the middle of the night, at as young as 15 years of age. Well, I told you it was a tangent...

Anyhow, I think that for my invitations, I just free-styled with whatever I felt like at the time... Actually, I put a friend in charge of doing most of it... Problem solved...