# "Ms." or "Mrs." President?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-or-mrs-president/463451>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 13, 2008, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-or-mrs-president/463451 "2008-09-13T15:55:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 43

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2008, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-or-mrs-president/463451/43 "2008-09-14T01:06:05Z")

</div>

> [@SkeptiJess](#):
>
> The etiquette answer:
> 
> Given the two choices presented, ‘Ms. President’ would be correct. Not politically correct, actually correct. ‘Ms.’ is a proper honorific for any woman when it isn’t necessary or desired to indicate marital status. ‘Ms.’ is, in this context, the exact equivalent of ‘Mr.’
> 
> ‘Mrs.’ means, properly, ‘wife of.’ So, ‘Mrs. President’ would mean, ‘wife of the President.’ Not correct, in other words.
> 
> All that said, when the situation arises, the usage will probably be ‘Madame President,’ since that is the protocol used in similar situations (Madama Speaker, Madame Governor, etc.)

Yes, this is what I was expressing. Correcting a long-standing error is not political correctness. Ms. is in almost all everyday contexts the only proper equivalent of Mr. What [Ms. Manners says](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/20/AR2006062001207.html) [corrected link] is, like most of her advice, to be ignored.

It’s true that in government, Madame is the preferred variant and that is probably what will be used. Or Madam. Another argument for another day.

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-or-mrs-president/463451)._