The Feb. 24 guest editorial by Dale McFeatters reports that “Mademoiselle” is being removed from official forms in France.

I found a Reuters report explaining that now French females can only register as “Madame.” That’s just as arbitrary, in its way, as our “Ms.”

McFeatters says Ms. “is not really short for anything.” Au contraire, Ms. has long been the standard abbreviation for “manuscript” (the plural is mss.), although it’s seldom used. Not many hand-written documents are being produced any more.

Charles Ferguson

East Vassalboro


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