Q. I remember hearing that it took The New York Times quite some time to abandon the titles "Mrs." or "Miss" and start using the all-inclusive "Ms." in its articles. So why is it that certain women, particularly Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush, are still referred to as Mrs. Clinton and Mrs. Bush in The Times? I personally think it's kind of a slap in the face to Hillary Clinton -- she's one of the top candidates for president, and it shouldn't matter whether she is married or not, or to whom. It does make me wonder, though, whether some public figures have expressed to The Times that they prefer a certain title.

-- Emily Liner

A. Our style is to use "Ms." unless a woman chooses to use "Mrs." or "Miss." That rule applies both to private individuals and to public figures.

Aside from these inquiries about "Ms.," I've been surprised not to get more questions about our use of courtesy titles. After all, our continued insistence on Mr., Ms., Dr., etc., is perhaps our most obvious stylistic difference from other news organizations, which generally use bare surnames for second references to people. The Times's style seems strange, at first, to every reporter or editor coming here from another paper.

I don't know whether the lack of comment in this forum reflects approval of the courtesy titles, or just familiarity or apathy. I do hear occasionally from reporters who'd like to drop them. Most recently, when we reduced the width of our pages, several people suggested eliminating courtesy titles to save space (it wouldn't really help).

Perhaps I'm tradition-bound, but this is one quirk of Times style that I would go to some lengths to defend. We strive for a tone that is literate, civil and serious: not fussy or old-fashioned, but also not chatty or self-consciously hip. It's not an easy balance, and we don't always get it right. But I think the simple use of courtesy titles -- whether it's "Mr. Bush," "Mrs. Clinton" or "Ms. Rivera, a teacher from Queens" -- injects a note of thoughtfulness and civility into our pages. Amid the daily cacophony, that seems a worthy effort.