Why Wimbledon nixing 'Miss' and 'Mrs.' matters: 'Important step forward'

News that the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club — the venue for Wimbledon — is dropping its longtime tradition of having umpires refer to women players with the titles “Ms.,” “Miss” or “Mrs.” before their last names has been drawing mixed reactions online, with folks calling it everything from “Good!” to “absurd.”

But, language expert Anne Pauwels tells Yahoo Lifestyle, the shift is “an important step forward,” as the continued use of these marital-status titles is out of step with the times.

“Why female tennis players continued to be distinguished in terms of their marital status in the 21st century in a tournament like Wimbledon was anachronistic,” says Pauwels, professor of sociolinguistics at the University of London. “General courtesy titles are being used less and less, at least in the Western world.”

As All England Club spokesperson Alexandra Willis told The Telegraph, “We’ve got to move with the times. Hopefully we surprise people with the way we do that.”

She added, “Some of the traditions — white clothing, playing on grass — they are our greatest strengths and the things that we do. Others absolutely have to move with the times. You have to respect the wishes of the players. I suppose the challenge for us is: How much you rewrite history?”

The question popped up most recently last year during Wimbledon, after Serena Williams had married Alexis Ohanian, and the chair umpire announced, “Game, set and match, Mrs. Williams” when she won, after years of saying, “Miss Williams.” (When men’s matches are called, it’s simply the last name; for example, “Game, Federer.”)

A story about the switch last year in the New York Times noted, “The tournament’s insistence on recording the marital status of its female participants reflects its complicated relationship with the women who play here — or, rather, the ‘ladies,’ according to the language of Wimbledon.” (“Ladies” does not appear to be going away in favor of “women,” which is a whole other story; though in fairness, “gentlemen” is also used at Wimbledon.)

The dropping of the women’s titles — “Mrs.,” which began in the late 18th century as an abbreviation for the honorific “mistress,” and “Miss,” from the same time period and specifically for unmarried women — is a positive step toward equalizing “linguistic treatment” between men and women, says Pauwels.

Whether such titles will disappear from language altogether is uncertain, Pauwels notes. “However,” she adds, “considering the changes in relationships both in terms of gender — heterosexual/same sex/LGBTQ — and in marital arrangements [such as] living together, second/third marriages and blended relations, these terms are increasingly meaningless for many people.”

Players at Wimbledon will still be able to request a title for umpires to use when there are code violations or other announcements, choosing from “Miss,” “Mrs.,” “Mr.,” or “Ms.” — the marital-neutral term that was first proposed not in the 1970s, according to the New York Times Magazine, but way back in 1901. That’s when an unnamed writer at a Springfield, Mass., newspaper put forth the notion — not for equity, but for etiquette.

“Every one has been put in an embarrassing position by ignorance of the status of some woman,” the writer noted. “To call a maiden Mrs. is only a shade worse than to insult a matron with the inferior title Miss. Yet it is not always easy to know the facts.”

As a fix, the writer offered the “more comprehensive term” of “Ms.,” which is “simple” and “easy to write,” and “the person concerned can translate it properly according to circumstances.”

The idea didn’t latch on, though, until 1961, when “Ms.” was popularized in part by feminist activist Sheila Michaels. In a story about her death, Canadain linguist Sali Tagliomonte told The Star (of Toronto), “When you have socio-cultural change and you have economic change, you’re going to have language change,” adding that it’s no wonder that such “gendered words” would fall out of favor.

Linguist Patricia T. O’Conner also weighed in, telling the paper, “My personal feeling is that eventually the category of honorifics that identify people merely by sex or domestic circumstances… will fall away in ordinary writing and only last names will be used,” she said. “They may live on for quite some time in direct address, however.”

But not at Wimbledon — much to the chagrin of some who expressed a distaste for the development this week.

“That’s just old-fashioned chivalry, manners, calling a woman ‘Miss,’” Morgan noted on Good Morning Britain, as his cohost Susanna Reid looked on in exasperation. Morgan blamed the move, which had left him “annoyed,” on the “absurd, global movement that all things must become gender-less.”

Others tweeted their disapproval.

But plenty of folks were thrilled by the news.

Williams herself has not yet commented on the change, but a British player, Heather Watson, reacted by telling the Telegraph, "Equality is good."

Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:

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• SI's 'curviest model ever' shuts down body-shamers who say there's 'no way' she's healthy: 'I work out literally every single day'

• Some Olympics sports are ‘ladies,’ others are ‘women’s’: Here’s why it matters

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