Miss, Mrs, Ms, Mr, M

[The Wizard from Milan]

I think it is time to move on from a Mr/Ms greeting to a M greeting.
Two points:
1. in the same way Miss/Mrs was often used in a discriminating way (so Ms was born); the sexed/gendered label is used as a discriminating label
2. in letters and emails, it is often unclear whether A. White or B. Smith is a lady or a gentlement, so it would be much more convenient to reply Dear M White

So let's replace the whole all greetings with M

[Nurvingiel]

Would Mr, Ms, Miss and Mrs be replaced by M?

[The Wizard from Milan]

Originally Posted by Nurvingiel

Would Mr, Ms, Miss and Mrs be replaced by M?

Yes, that is what I am proposing

[Linaewen]

Originally Posted by The Wizard from Milan

I think it is time to move on from a Mr/Ms greeting to a M greeting.
Two points:
1. in the same way Miss/Mrs was often used in a discriminating way (so Ms) was born; the sexed/gendered label is now used a discriminating label

Is it? How?

2. in letters and emails, it is often unclear wether A. White or B. Smith is a lady or a gentlement, so it would be much more convenient to reply Dear M White

Then you write 'Dear Sir/Madam' or something (often people's full names are written out anyway.) Maybe it's just me, but I think replacing all of those with 'M' would create even more ambiguities.

[The Wizard from Milan]

Originally Posted by Linaewen

Is it? How?

Because the gender differentiation in the greeting serves no purpose but to remind the female receiver of her sex/gender. Think about it this way: if the societal norm for greetings were to put race "Dear White Mr Jones", "Dear African-American Mr Washington", would that not blatantly be a legacy of discrimination?

Originally Posted by Linaewen

Maybe it's just me, but I think replacing all of those with 'M' would create even more ambiguities.

But ambiguity is good. You want not to know and not to care about the sex/gender of the person you are dealing with for business purposes.

[brownjenkins]

i prefer first name / last name... lose the surnames entirely... everyone always ends up saying, "just call me joe" (unless their name is sam)

[Hasty Ent]

Lose the surname? I agree that the vast majority wind up just using first names, but that's after the initial contact. I always use a first name and a surname in the first letter or phone call without a Mr/Ms/Mrs/Miss, unless there's an honorific involved, e.g. Dear Dr So-and-So or Dear Prof Whatsyername.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Well, I never really looked at this as being a sexually discriminating thing, but more of a way to determine the status of women. Mrs- signifies that this is a married woman. Miss- signifies she is single, and Ms- I believe came out after the women's movement as a title of liberation.