"Obsolete," but still in use

[Bethany K. Dumas]

On Wed, 20 Sep 2006, Wilson Gray wrote:
>I bleeve y'all done missed a impawtant change. Nowadays, it doesn't
>matter, at least in my experience and what I hear from relatives,
>whether the woman or the speaker be black or white. Innih ladih be
>cawl "Miss [First name]" by innihbidih ales. Nothing's perfect
>anywhere, of course,
>but I like to give credit where credit is due: 2006 is not 1946.

D'accord. When I taught at Southern University (off and on 1967-1972), I
was first known by staff (yes, they were all black - I was one of about
four whites on campus) as "Miss Bethany." I finished my Ph.D. while living
abroad, then returned to teach at Southern 1971-72. I wondered how I would
be addressed - there were not a lot of Ph.D.s at SU then.

I should have been able to figure it out - I became "Doctor Bethany."

Bethany

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