To North Americans in Paris, being addressed as mademoiselle may seem the epitome of chic.
But French feminists have a word for its je ne sais quoi: sexism, pure and simple.
Activists are so incensed by the title's demeaning tone – the male equivalent, damoiseau, or squire, was dropped decades ago – that they're calling for a complete ban of mademoiselle, Time reports.
Unlike men, who are addressed as monsieur regardless of status, women in France are singled out as young and unmarried by the honorific mademoiselle.
"It obliges women to expose their personal or family situation," says Julie Muret, a leader of Osez le Féminisme (Dare Feminism), one of the two groups behind the movement. "It may seem like a detail, but it's very symbolic of (wider) inequalities."
She and other frontliners insist that madame is the obvious counterpart to monsieur and should be used for women of all ages.
After all, Fraulein disappeared from official use in Germany in 1972, and the feminist attack on Miss has made the term sound downright archaic to modern ears.
Dissenters argue that feminists have bigger fish to fry.
In France, the pay gap between men and women in the private and semi-private sector is 19 per cent, the Guardian has reported. There are 75,000 rapes each year, but only 10 per cent of women go to the police.
Harassment passes as gallantry and Dominique Strauss-Kahn's infidelities – and alleged rape – were chalked up to a voracious sexual appetite.
But in the wake of "l'affaire DSK" and the nation's reexamination of macho culture, condescending formalities no longer cut it, according to the anti- mademoiselle campaign.
With any luck on their part, the title will suffer the same fate as the fashion magazine of the same name.
Would you be offended if you were addressed as mademoiselle?