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Do you still use Mademoiselle? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| JS-1 Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 5983 days ago 144 posts - 166 votes  Speaks: English*, French Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), German, Japanese, Ancient Egyptian, Arabic (Written) | Message 1 of 23 03 April 2010 at 3:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Since "Mademoiselle" has come under attack as a form of address that some women find
demeaning and discriminatory, I was wondering how many people here have stopped using it. Edited by JS-1 on 03 April 2010 at 4:07pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5847 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 23 03 April 2010 at 3:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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This is a very interesting question and I am curious to read some reports about what's the usage of "Mademoiselle" in France, Wallonia, Romandie, Quebec and other French speaking countries.
I am in fact a "Mademoiselle", but I get a strange feeling, if I have to be called with this title at age 48. So please inform me! In Germany and the Netherlands a similar form is no longer used, so this makes it easier for me. Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 03 April 2010 at 4:15pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7156 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 3 of 23 03 April 2010 at 6:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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When I address a woman, I use by default "Madame". I'll switch to "Mademoiselle" only when I am certain that the woman whom I'm addressing is unmarried.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5847 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 4 of 23 03 April 2010 at 6:26pm | IP Logged | ||
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I was informing about a possible subscription to an astronomy magazine from France and there I would have to fill in a form asking for:
Titulaire du compte: ( ) Mme ( ) M ( ) Mlle So there you have to choose between all three titles and mark your choice with an "x". In Germany it would be: ( ) Frau ( ) Herr An in the Netherlands it would be: ( ) Mevr ( ) Dhr So no special status for unmarried women! Fasulye Edited by Fasulye on 03 April 2010 at 6:27pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| cordelia0507 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5838 days ago 1473 posts - 2176 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: German, Russian | Message 5 of 23 03 April 2010 at 7:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have been addressed with Mlle several times recently.
In a cafe, in a shop and probably elsewhere that I can't remember. I don't know why they choose that. I don't look old but not very young either. But I am not married. I didn't not get offended, should I... ? In fact I thought it relatively complimentary... I didn't know there was a debate about this in France. Usually it seems to be Mme though -- Ok in French, but I hate "Madam" in English! I just want to be treated with genuine respect, the title per se is irrelevant. Personally I only use Mme -- I don't bother with titles for someone my own age or younger. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lynxrunner Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States crittercryptics.com Joined 5922 days ago 361 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Swedish, Haitian Creole | Message 6 of 23 03 April 2010 at 7:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'd be curious about this, too. "Mademoiselle" seems unnecessary. In this day and age, is
it really necessary for us to acknowledge whether the woman we are speaking with is married or not? Off the top of my head, I can't really think of an equivalent term for "non-married woman" in Spanish. I wouldn't mind "mademoiselle" if it just meant "young woman" (kind of like "senorita"). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| str0be Senior Member Korea, South Joined 5604 days ago 103 posts - 148 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Dutch, Korean | Message 7 of 23 03 April 2010 at 8:17pm | IP Logged | ||
It's useful for single men to be able to easily know if a woman is 'available' or not, and in that way, it's useful for women too. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lynxrunner Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United States crittercryptics.com Joined 5922 days ago 361 posts - 461 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish*, French Studies: Russian, Swedish, Haitian Creole | Message 8 of 23 03 April 2010 at 8:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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I can see how 'mademoiselle' might be useful for single men, but it's certainly not
useful for me. My status as 'available' is not something I'd necessarily want to flaunt. In any case, why isn't there such a term for men? Why are single and married men all covered with the category of 'monsieur'? In the Titulaire du compte posted above, these were the three options: ( ) Mme ( ) M ( ) Mlle. There is only one for men: Monsieur. In theory, I could be conversing with an unmarried man and not know about his 'availability'. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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