Sunday, December 17, 2006
nomeclature
Officially correct nomenclature has changed sometime in the last thirty years. At least as far as how to write the names of married women. I realized this as I was reading the official guest list of attendees at the recent Kennedy Center honors. Wives were listed as "Mrs. + their own first name + their husband's last name". When I was in high school, we were taught the rules of correct naming formats (no, I don't know why that was part of our training) and learned that that format meant the woman was a widow. As I read the list this morning, being the alert person I am, I figured that these people were listed with luminaries who included their husbands so they were actually present at the festivities and therefore not widows. Since official guest lists are almost certainly written "correctly", it means things have changed. What a relief. I've never forgotten the rebuke I earned by writing minutes of a committee meeting with married women's names including their own first names. Yes, Virginia, progress is being made.
Labels: modern culture, reflections
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