Did you Ms. me? the story

I substitute teach at the local K-8 school where my Dear Husband is an administrator. I think I will start a series of tagged blogs on "Adventures of Substitute Teaching".

This episode:
I was substitute teaching for the middle school this time. First I had a very chatty group of 7th graders. I substitute fairly often, and many of the kids know my name, but for whatever reason on this occasion. multiple times I was called either "Mrs. Cunningham" or "Mrs. Campbell" - neither of which is my name. I assume that those two subs get called by my name as well.

So when the next class- this one of 6th graders- arrived, I wrote my name on the board like this:

Ms. K------

One of the students asked why I had left out the "r" in "Mrs.".

I explained that I had written it correctly, the word was pronounced "mizz" and I invited them to tell me what they thought it meant.

Some of their guesses:

-it means that you don't have any children (I told them I have 4 children)

- it means that you are divorced (I told them- and/or reminded them- I was happily married- to the man working in the office, Mr. K----!)

- it means that you are older (!! I told them-- ah, no.)

So I wrote: Mr. Smith, Miss Smith, Mrs. Smith, Ms. Smith on the board.

I asked, pointing at "Miss Smith,"- do you know if this person is married? (yes, we know she isn't married).

I pointed at "Mrs. Smith"- how about this person? (yes, we know she is married)

I pointed at "Mr. Smith"- what about this person? (no- we don't know if he is married or not)

So, I explained that in the 1960s, or about that time, the term "Ms." was created to use for women- in a fairer way, like "Mr.", without reference to their marital status.

Some other topics came up- last names, hyphenated last names and so on.

And we went on to the lesson.

Then I was talking to the classroom teacher later. I outlined what had happened.

It turned out *she* (a "Miss" in her late 20s / early 30s) had no idea what "Ms." meant - she thought it meant you were divorced.

Wow.

Do I feel old or what.