Ms.

Ms. is a title for a woman that does not depend on her marital status. The word is pronounced as "Miz". It is used as an alternative to the more traditional Miss (implying that the woman is not married) or Misses (implying that she is married). This title started to be used commonly after the feminist movement of the 1960s. Many women did not like the fact that the titles the English language made available to them indicated what their marital status was. After all, men do not have titles that revealed their marital status. Today many women who are not feminists use the title Ms.. It also has become "politically correct" to use this title when addressing someone you don't know. Some women strongly insist on the Ms. title and will be offended if addressed otherwise.

I myself do not have a problem with the Ms. title. It is only fair that women have a title that does not imply marital status. The only thing I don't get about it is that the . at the end implies that it is an abbreviation. What is it an abbreviation for? Ms. doesn't appear to actually be short for anything. And the pronunciation does not contain an "s" consonant sound either. So why is there an "s" in the abbreviation? If these people are going to use a new title, at least use a real word.

MS. (almost always written MS. or ms., not Ms.) is an abbreviation for manuscript. It is most frequently used to refer to the manuscripts of classic works, though it can be used to refer to the orignial handwritten version of any book or other document. Also, less frequently, MSS.