In books or movies, it’s usually pimps or gay guys who say this. I had thought it was some kind of '70s pimp slang, but I just saw the term in a Hubert Selby Jr. novel from the '50s. What the heck does it mean?
Well, it’s short for Mistress, an honorific term once used as far back as the ancient and early 70’s to identify the married lady of the household. Things get a bit confusing then, for it has multiple abbreviations to be used in specific ways.
Mrs. (Misses) (mistress) indicates the wife of the husband, who is termed Mr., which is short for master but with the adult connotation.
Miss. (Misses) indicates the unmarried state of the woman or the young unmarried state of a female child.
Ms. (Miz) indicates the current single, no man needed, independent, woman-about-the-world title developed by the Woman’s Liberation Movement.
Mr. (Mister) Short for master, indicating the now archaic head of the house and properties.
Mas. (Master) Short for master, but used to indicate a young, unmarried male child – even up into his 20s.
These terms are probably amusing to view, considering that they have all but gone out of style these days, along with the term ‘Sir,’ an honorific bestowed upon a senior male or ‘Madam’ a similar honorific bestowed upon a senior female.
They were used back in the days of when it was proper to hold doors open for ladies, seat them first, hold car doors for them, men paid most of the bills, usually were the only ones working in the home, wore hats they actually tipped, also took off in restaurants, in the house and before going to bed.
Olden times, m’boy. Olden times.
That was when crib meant the bed of an infant. How it became a term for a gang or homez crash pad, I don’t know.
“Miss Thing” (properly pronounced “Miss Thang”) is, I believed, used to take someone down a peg or two who’s a bit too full of themselves.
For instance, Wildest Bill might site a Bible verse in stating his belief that God created the world in six days. Then David B. would snap his fingers derisively and say, “Sez you, Miss Thang!”
Eve has it exactly.
Just a note: To say it properly, one must remember to sneer slightly.
(that’s what we need - a sneering smilie)
What part of it does Eve have, exactly?
The “take someone down a peg or two”? I agree.
Or the David B snapping and calling WB “Miss Thang” part? That one I am having trouble visualizing.
Actually, it’s “missus” or “missis,” but not “misses.” “Misses” can be used as the plural of “miss,” though.
Plus, “miss” doesn’t need a period.
Sorry I’m being so picky, but I was just grading essays and I’m still in a bad mood. 
re: “Miss Thang” (not “Thing”, that isn’t how it’s pronounced)–
From age 6 months onward, a female of a previous generation might have heard variations on “She is just the cutest li’l thang!” often enough to believe such adulation her due. AKA spoiled rotten and stuck on herself.
Enter sarcasm, cynicism, and cattiness: “Here comes Little Miss ‘Cutest Thang’”
There’s a Hollywood equivalent, I believe: The “it” girl. The kind of female who would wear a t-shirt that proclaims “I’m too sexy for my clothes” and would believe it.
Stir in some gay folk of the variety that refer to each other as ‘she’: “Oh, excuuuse me, ‘Miss Thang’!”
Heh. The first art. Though I’d like to see that second one.
“Now that I’m Miss Thing, now that I’m a zillonaire”
(Alanis Morissette - Right Through You)
Micheal Heaton, the so-called “Minister of Culture” who writes for the Cleveland Plain Dealer (and who is, in reality, squarer than Lawrence Welk and twice as dull*) refers to his young daughter in his column as “Miss Thing” without any apparent trace of irony or understanding.
*His sister, on the other hand, is the lovely and talented Patricia Heaton of Everybody Loves Raymond.
Miss Thang is a woman who thinks she’s all that and a bag of chips.
Michael Heaton is still doing his “Minister of Culture” schtick? I remember him from my Cleveland daze.
He started out as a rock ‘n’ roll critic back in the 80s and affected a “hip” stance complete with black leather. I think his squareness in the 90s may be traceable to his Catholic conversion experience. But you have to remember, the Queen of Cleveland Rock ‘n’ Roll Critics was Jane Scott, who was 60 or 70 years old, a dowdy middle-class frump without the slightest pretense of being hip or cool. In a perverse Cleveland kind of way (you had to be there), her extreme squareness was the key to her success. The rock ‘n’ rollers got along great with her.
“There’s a Hollywood equivalent, I believe: The “it” girl. The kind of female who would wear a t-shirt that proclaims “I’m too sexy for my clothes” and would believe it.”
—Ahhh . . . Sit down, class, and Auntie Eve will tell you all about Elinor Glyn, Clara Bow, and the origin of “It” . . .
Thanks Eve and everyone else. The way the term’s used now makes it sound a lot less innocuous than it really is.
(Spyder – that was a pretty snide reply! It made me laugh and gave me chills at the same time.)
How about it Eve? Why not tell us about the origin of “it girl” too while we’re at it.
And who remembers Dorothy Fuldheim, the Local TV Personality with the Orangest Hair in the World?
Cleveland has a positive mania for lionizing its bizarre old ladies. I wish the tendency would spread to the rest of the country.
“How about it Eve? Why not tell us about the origin of ‘it girl’ too while we’re at it.”
—Oh, my . . . That’s akin to saying to Wildest Bill, “So, tell me about this Creationism . . .”
Well, OK. Elinor Glyn was the Jackie Collins of the early 20th century—she wrote really good bodice-rippers. One of them was a magazine piece about “It,” and who has It. Most people assumed It was just sex appeal, but Madame Glyn gathered her emeralds warmly about her and explained patiently that it was more akin to force of personality.
“It” was filmed in 1927, starring two performers hand-picked by Madame Glyn (“They have to be under contract to Paramount, remember!”), Clara Bow and Antonio Moreno. Clara was dubbed “The It Girl,” and the rest is history . . . Well, chemistry, actually . . .
Eve and/or Ike:
Was it Clara Bow who supposedly entertained the entire USC football team?
Supposedly, yes. The football team was, years later, asked about this, and said, “We wish!”
Miss Bow did have an active love-life, though, including many costars, directors and at least one married man whose wife sued. She later married, settled down, had kids and even became a Republican!
But she did party with them, did she not? That’s what I read in more than one biography of her: they were at her house a few times, but no sex because a)training forbid it, b)they were Nice Boys and c)she wasn’t as depraved as people liked to think she was, so she wouldn’t have taken on a whole group of guys. They just hung out, listened to jazz, swam in her pool, met some other celebs, and declined the bootleg gin because again, they were in training.
The way I read it, she went to a USC game, eyed the captain, Morley Drury, then called his frat house and said, “Where’s this Sigma Chi thinga yours? Can I come visit?..Oh, no girls in the house, huh…Well, you wanna come by my place? Everybody else is here!”
I know that’s not what Kenneth Anger says, but Kenneth Anger is a putz.
i come from the era where “miss thing” was as common and normal in addressing someone. "hey girl!, hi miss thing, how are you?? its merely a way of efeminizing people places and things. it is not meant to be offensive by any means, if the cops were around, and we were doing something illegal, we would give the heads up “miss alice!!!” we also used it with other words, like “miss honey” “miss girl”. even straight guys were subjected to it…as in “miss joe” “miss david”, etc. the changing of the term to “miss thang” was more of an ethic based variation. snapping of ones finger was used to give emphasis, especially when one is “reading” someone or throwing “shade”. it was done (indignantly, by moving ones arm from left to right, in a circular motion. the effect was to have the snao was supposed to occur after the person said Midd, like, “miss THING”