Missus, Missis, Mistress (?)
Are these titles usual in the USA? Thanks! Please give me as much information as you know.
13 Answers
We only use Miss, Mrs. (misses, or missez) and Ms. (mizz). Miss is generally only for young girls and women. Ms. is used in a professional setting, or when you're not sure of the woman's marital status or how she feels about being called Mrs. Mrs. generally covers most married women in informal settings.
You will also hear ma'am, which came from madam. It's a polite form of address for women who are not obviously a miss. It's usually used when addressing someone you don't know, as in, "Ma'am, you forgot your purse", or when people are trying to be especially polite. It's more common in the south, and among military and police personnel.
Mistress has evolved to mean the woman that a man is cheating on his wife with.
Under no circumstances should you ever address a woman that you don't know as "mistress", unless you want to get slapped. 
In the USA we now say Ms. (Pronounced "Mizz") so that there is no emphasis on marital status. It's deemed sexist that men are called Mr. (Mister) regardless of whether they are married or not and there is the delineation between an unmarried woman, Miss, or a married woman, Mrs. (Missus). Still, the Ms is used in professional settings but in social settings, if you know a woman is married, you would say Mrs. (Missus). Actually, Missus is not actually a word but rather Mrs. is used rather than the archaic 'mistress'. GaryTruckey
Well Ian you guys do actually have one more: when my son was around ten he received a letter from our dentist and it was addressed to Master D.... I was quite surprised and had to go look it up and discovered that boy children under a certain age were not addressed as Mr. but as Master I think in Spanish it would be Señorito. So since Ms is a more recent made-up word you men really do have the same number of forms of address!!!!
In the south, where we love to run words together we generally follow this rule:
If you know she's married then say, "missus" which is how we pronounce "mrs."
If you are unsure or she is young then say, "miss" which covers both miss and ms.
If however, you are planning on writing a letter to her, then you better know if she's married. If she is, then use mrs. if not, then use ms., if she is
For example, perhaps the servants to a Lady in Britain might call her Mistress.
You do realise we are in the 21st century now 
The idea of having households with servants is as uncommon in the uk as it is anywhere else.
But in such a situation they would just use the word "mam" short for "madame" anyway.
To the op, the word mistress is a big NO. It would be preferable to engage in a tirade of profanity than to use that one simple word. Unless your talking about certain fantasy situations that is 
But as a rule dont use it.
Now, missus means wife...usually said, "the missus." It sounds old-fashioned, or stereotypically British.
Missis is another way to spell missus.
Mistress is the feminine form of master, which are terms used by servants to refer to their master and his wife (and the children of the master and mistress, too)...it is somewhat rare now, mostly used in movies and books set in centuries past. However, it may still be in use. For example, perhaps the servants to a Lady in Britain might call her Mistress. However, today in the USA, "mistress" usually means a woman with whom a man is having an affair.
Mrs. (pronounced missus) means mistress and is how a married woman is addressed when you include her name (Mrs. Smith). In modern writing you don't write Missus Smith, you write Mrs. Smith. (Missus is just a bastardization of mistress, I imagine).
Miss, when used with a woman's name (Miss Smith) refers to an unmarried woman, or any young woman if one doubts that she is married. When used by itself, (Excuse me, Miss, you forgot your purse), it means the same as Ma'am and can be used with women of any age or marital status, but this would only be done by people who don't know the woman at all.
Ms. (pronounced mizz) is a title used to address a woman without reference to her marital status. It is normally used in business environments among co-workers, between a boss and employee, and between a customer and the employees of a company. Ms. exists only in its abbreviation form (I have no idea why).
So much for equality Ms - Miss - Mrs - Mistress for females but only Mr for males.
I demand 3 more for us guys! 
Here is what my dictionary says:
Missis and missus are the spoken or oral versions of the title or address Mrs.
Mrs. is the abbreviation of the older word mistress.
Missus, missis and Mrs. are all references to a married woman.
Mistress today is understood to mean
1. A woman who has a continuing extramarital relationship with a man (one of the man or the woman is married and most often it is the man who is married)
2. A woman in a position of authority, ownership or control
3. a woman having control over something specified: e.g mistress of her own destiny
4. an archaic or dialect word for 'sweetheart'
Here are some personal comments
I have never seen 'missis' or 'missus' spelled out in a written work except in a dictionary. They are not used. Mrs. is always used instead of either word.
A female child under the age of puberty may safely be called "Mistress Margaret (or Ruth or Anna)".
The chatelaine of a home may safely be called mistress of the house.
The word mistress must never be applied to a mature woman in a sexual connotation unless insult is intended.
Where you might safely use 'mistress' for a woman in a position of authority, ownership or control, consider substituting "ma'am" (short for 'madam') where you might have used mistress.
You might see "Missus" written in colloquial dialogue in literature, mistress is strictly a naughty term these days 
My favorite online English-English dictionary has a listing for Ms. here.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Ms
Any time you are not on a first name basis with a woman, you should use Ms. preceding her surname. If the woman prefers Miss or Mrs. she will let you know. In many or most business environments using Ms. is standard policy.
In many circles to be polite, you might call someone Miss, Ms., or Mrs. Smith after being introduced. Then, they would say, "please call me Susan." Then, you would call her Susan.
Like Usted, these titles are used to show respect. However, they are used in some areas of the country more than others. In my experience, they are used in politics, more than in business and in business more than among friends. Many people never use them at all and are very relaxed and informal "on a first name basis" with everyone.
No, they are generally only used by men who are poor or about to become poor.
