Terry O'Reilly

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4,084 appearances 18 recordings 1 series first heard Apr 2026 last heard 5 Sep

Terry O'Reilly’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 18 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 5.

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Then, sometime in the 15th century, the word mistress began to be used in a romantic context to refer to a man's beloved or sweetheart.

Then, in the 17th century, the word mistress became problematic.

It then referred to a woman who had a, quote, continuing extramarital sexual relationship with a man who provides her with financial support.

Interestingly, and not surprisingly, there is no male counterpart word for mistress.

A man having an affair is simply called a man.

Now we come to the honorific title of Ms., spelled M-S, period.

While we think of it as a term born of the 1970s women's lib movement, it can be traced back to England in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Like Mrs. and Miss, it too is a derivation of the word mistress.

The earliest known modern revival of the term Ms.

was in 1901, when a publication in Massachusetts made the case that a title for a woman shouldn't rely on that woman's domestic situation.

It said referring to a single woman as Mrs. was incorrect, and addressing an older married woman as Ms.

seemed awkward.

So it suggested the honorific title of Ms.,

Decades later, in 1969, Gloria Steinem was listening to a radio interview with a feminist who suggested the title Ms.

should be used by women.

Steinem, who was preparing to launch a feminist magazine, adopted the word as the publication's title.

From that point on, Ms.

was widely used.

Even in an era of gender-neutral terms, honorifics can still be found to this day to signal gender, marital status, or professional qualifications.

There are some time-honored honorifics in the world of marketing, too.

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