The Wall Street Journal-20080205-Home - Family- Best of the Juggle - Excerpts from WSJ-com-s Work - Family Blog
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Home & Family: Best of the Juggle / Excerpts from WSJ.com's Work & Family Blog
Full Text (469 words)It's Mrs. Merkel, Thank You
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By Sara Schaefer Munoz
What's in a name, or, rather, an honorific? Plenty, apparently, if you are German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
According to a recent post on The Journal's Style & Substance blog, which monitors grammar and style for the paper, Angela Merkel will now be referred to as Mrs. Merkel in second references in The Journal's pages, at her request. The Journal, per its usual style, had been using Ms. Merkel in second references.
The post goes on to say that Mrs. Merkel's staff indicated she was following the model of Hillary Clinton, who prefers "Mrs." to "Ms." or "Miss." All this raises the question: How much weight do women give to the two or three letters that come before their name?
I personally prefer "Ms." I don't think there's any reason to advertise whether or not you are married. It's not usually an issue, anyhow: Most people I deal with call me Sara. In fact, one of the only times I'm referred to as Mrs. Munoz is when I'm introduced to a child by the child's mother.
Readers say:
"If a woman is concerned she may not be taken seriously in her endeavors as a married or unmarried woman, 'Ms.' gives a nice way to not point out your marital status."
"Women are differentiated by marriage because marriage was traditionally a profession for women. Even today, married women do most of the work of managing their family. I believe 'Mrs.' is a mark of respect for that."
-- Putting Off Chores
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By John J. Edwards III
With the nonstop pressure of work and family responsibilities, it's no wonder many juggling families let nagging little things around the house fall through the cracks. After all, why put off till tomorrow what you can put off for a couple of weeks, or a month, or to that magical epoch called Eventually?
It's hard to get motivated to take care of things that need to be handled but aren't really urgent. Getting our dryer fixed a couple of weeks ago, for example, was an instant top priority, as the kids were itching and scratching from the harsh detergent our pickup-and-drop- off service used. But getting new window treatments for the family room and dining room? The current ones are pretty lame, but at least they keep out prying eyes, and getting to the curtain-and-blind store would be such a hassle. and so they persist.
Readers say:
"We try really hard to keep up with the day-to-day stuff. However, larger projects tend to sit around until there is an outside factor that makes them a priority. The deck gets power-washed the weekend before a backyard birthday party. . ."
"What the rest of the world labels procrastination I call triage. It's all about prioritization."
