Ms.

My daughter sent me a lovely Father's Day card. We (& I assume her) get a lot of address stickers; it seems that every Charity in the world send them out & since many Charities exchange mailing lists; we get more than enough address labels.

What stuck me was that my daughter's label was Ms. then her name. My wife does not particularly like the term "Ms." & I was wondering if my daughter noticed the name. If she is like me, I look & look for labels with just my name or both our names or some other combination (since we have so many each with different variations of our names) and can only find ones with my wife's name or other incorrect combination.

For us "Baby boomers", Ms. has a very women's lib meaning. If you are liberal & a feminist then Ms is a badge of honor; but not necessarily for happily married women like my daughter & wife.

“If Miss means respectably unmarried, and Mrs. respectably married, then Ms. means nudge, nudge, wink, wink.” Angela Carter

“Modern life is confusing - no "Ms take" about it.” Geraldine A. Ferraro

Ms. (n) a title used before the surname or full name of any woman regardless of her marital status (a neutral alternative to Mrs. or Miss)
• humorous used before an invented surname to imply that someone has a particular characteristic
ORIGIN 1950s: combination of Mrs. and miss

Great

I listen to a lot of radio & listen to the Chi Bulls basketball games on the radio.  Their color commentator is named Bill Wennington who was an ex-Bull player, he does a very good job in my opinion; but he almost always calls the Bull plays as "great"; like Ben Gordon made a great move to get to the basket (unfortunately for the Bulls Gordon missed the shot).

I think that some words are over used & cheapened like "great".  To me this should be reserved for great outcomes or efforts.  On the advertisements, every show is great; every toothpaste works great; etc..  What they usually mean is that it works OK.

I've heard Pres. Obama's speeches called great though there is no content; they are good to listen to because they are well written, but lack any depth.  Books are called great only because the author is famous or politically connected.  And so on & so on!

When asked how they are some people say "great"; when they are not as great as they think!

great (adj) 1 of an extent, amount, or intensity considerably above the normal or average • very large and imposing • [ attrib. ] used to reinforce another adjective of size or extent • [ attrib. ] used to express surprise, admiration, or contempt, esp. in exclamations 2 of ability, quality, or eminence considerably above the normal or average 3 [ attrib. ] denoting the element of something that is the most important or the most worthy of consideration

Then & Than

I have been using Then & Than a lot.  I think I may have been using them incorrectly so I decided to look up the definitions.

then (adv) 1 at that time; at the time in question 2 after that; next; afterward : • also; in addition 3 in that case; therefore • used at the end of a sentence to emphasize an inference being drawn • used to finish off a conversation : see you in an hour, then.

than (conjunction & preposition) 1 introducing the second element in a comparison 2 used in expressions introducing an exception or contrast 3 [ conj. ] used in expressions indicating one thing happening immediately after another

So there!