Madam, - In Kevin Myers's latest tirade against the sisterhood (An Irishman's Diary, January 23rd), he takes issue with the term "Ms".
In his opinion the term fails to achieve the intended sense of full female independence because, he says, the origin of Ms is the same as that of Miss and Mrs - i.e. "mistress", which is a feminised version of the word "master".
There are two excellent reasons why the adoption of the term Ms has been a resounding success.
Firstly, anything that causes Kevin Myers apoplectic rage needs no other justification. However, if that were not good enough, the term justifies its existence because of its marital status neutrality.
I recall that before the existence of the term "Ms", all that was required to elicit more personal information than one wished to reveal was the innocuous query, "Tell me now, would it be Mrs or Miss?" - Yours, etc.,
PAMELA CONROY, Rockville Drive, Carrickmines, Dublin 18.