Posts by Deborah
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Hard News: Who else forgot to get married?, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,
If I have to use a title, I use "Ms", except at work where I use my academic title. Or if some f^%*&! patronises me.
It seems to have orginated as a way of referring to a woman without indicating her marital status: NYT: On language - "Ms". But it's not really equivalent to "Madame" as an indicator of grown-up-ness, which is a shame. I'd really like to be able to use a title that indicated, "adult woman" rather than "married woman" or "unmarried woman" or "woman about whose marital status I am unsure" or "woman who prefers not to be known by her marital status".
I think Megan's point is excellent: why the hell shouldn't an older woman proudly use the title, "Miss"?
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Hard News: Who else forgot to get married?, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
All that said, it’s also a non-trivial mark of respect to use the honorific style people express a preference for.
Just so. Except... hmm... what about people in particular religions using titles that also carry a common meaning in our language. I'm thinking here of "Father" for Roman Catholic priests. I have conflicting views on this, because if Bishop Brian Tamaki wants to be called, "Bishop", then fine, whatever, but I'm not so keen on using father/mother/sister/brother. Not quite sure why.
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Hard News: Who else forgot to get married?, in reply to Megan Wegan,
I think I would be happy with "Mrs" if it carried its original connotation of an adult woman, as "Mr" still does for men, c/f "Master" for a boy.
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Hard News: Who else forgot to get married?, in reply to Miche Campbell,
Yeah. And I didn't even have problems travelling internationally with the girls, but without their father. Really, no one gave a damn about the different names we use, including immigration clerks.
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but she’s also concerned about either of us having issues being accepted as the parent of a child without having the same name
I've never had a problem with this at all. All my girls have their father's family name rather than my family name.
It never occurred to me to change my name when we got married, and we really really got married - full scale full on Catholic nuptial mass, with all the bells and whistles.
Every now and then someone rings up and asks for Mr Russell, or Mrs Wright. Whatever. I get a bit uptight if people persist in using calling me Mrs Wright: I *hate* being addressed with "Mrs".
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Age. Age makes a huge difference. I shepherded my three daughters (14, 11 and 11) to London and back recently, transitting at Shanghai Pudong. The planes all had a 2-4-2 seating configuration in economy class, so we got window and aisle seats, 2 in front and 2 behind. The girls watched movies, read books, chatted a little, slept. I did some needlework (exceedingly genteel). It was all very restful.
And a stunning contrast to the time that I walked from Brisbane to Palmerston North (back in the days when we had international flights landing here), up and down the aisle, toting a toddler. Every now and then I would deposit one toddler with my husband, and pick up the other one. I had fabulous biceps back in those days.,
Many thanks for the laughter, David.
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Hard News: Kitchen Hacks, in reply to Gary Young,
how does one actually use a preserved lemon?
One uses them in prawn pasta, of course.
I rinse a quarter or two off, scoop out the flesh, then dice the rind. Get your pasta cooking, then fry the raw prawns gently in olive oil and maybe a curl of butter, until they're nice and pink. Add the lemon rind. When the pasta is cooked and drain, drizzle some really good olive oil over it, lemon infused if you have it, then stir the prawns and lemon rind through, and top with rocket. Quick, easy, and delicious.
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I don’t think that ‘living in the electorate’ is a necessary criterion to meet. Working on the ground alongside the people in the electorate is probably a better one to use in this case. If you go with the ‘living in the electorate’ criterion, people can get ruled in or out by a street or two, which seems a little arbitrary. Better to look at their credentials.
ETA: Great post, Emma.
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A great read, thank you, David.
I treat Paul as much as possible like I’d treat anyone. I demand the same care from him as I would demand from anyone else.
And thank you for this jewel. A reminder and a challenge for me.
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Hard News: Neither fish nor fowl, in reply to Jon Briggs,
I wonder if you escaped the fine because you admitted that it was a fair cop.
I ride a "ladies" bike, not because I am a lady (I'm not), but because I find it easy to get off and on, and to ride it a bit like a scooter (mostly off the bike, bike on my right side, left foot on the pedal, right foot slightly behind and on the ground. 'Though I hardly ever do that. Mostly if I get to a busy intersection where I don't fancy jousting with cars and trucks, I get off and walk my bike over the road. But it's easy enough for me to do that: I have only one very busy intersection to negotiate on my way home.