Can a girl be called master?

How about Mistress, or Milady, or Ma'am, or young Miss?

In the "Shoebox" TV fantasy series, they call the girl Mistress.

Yes, the usual way to address is Mistress. Or what about other languages: Mademoiselle, Froilen, Señorita, etc.

Mistress has all sorts of connotations...

Mistress is the female equivalent of Master. (Headmaster/Headmistress) Just as Mrs. is to Mr.

Although in the context you've shown above, it seems ok. But I think it'd look kinda funny if you had people calling a female - "Master."

I think it'd be even funnier if the girl's surname was Bates.

BlueLucario said:

No, too formal. I mean like servant and master.

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Well, you were going to have the cat call her "master" so I don't think you have to worry about formality, since Master is as formal as it gets.

I would have the cat say Miss [first name]. It's polite, addresses the issue of servant/employee-master/boss, and is somewhat casual.

i.e.

"Miss Wendy?"

"Yes, Mr. Whiskers?"

"How come you shaved all my fur off?"

"Because I don't enjoy the taste of cat dander in my evening meal."

"Of course Miss Wendy. However I may leave you a little surprise in one of your shoes tonight."

"What?"

"Nothing."

You know, I think you could do it, but you'd need a darned good reason why. Otherwise you're just confusing the reader.

BlueLucario said:

Because its like a relationship between cat ang girl. She like serves her in a way.

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Yup, I don't think that's enough. As most of the replies here have said, there is a female equivalent (Mistress or Miss). If you want to use Master, there has to be a reason why you're not using the female equivalent. It's not like cats can't understand or distinguish gender. If, however, you want a non-gender specific title to make a point within the story, or as Derek suggests, for humor - that's another matter.

Blue, you can certainly do what you want in your story, but it doesn't change the fact that master, when used as a noun, indicates the masculine, whereas as mistress indicates the fem and interchaning the two might confuse the readers. I really can't think of any unisex noun that would convey your meaning though. If you look at any book that deals with the slave/servant lord/master dynamic, the female equivalent of master is mistress, and that of lord is lady. Maybe the cat can call her boss?

The cat calling the girl master is about the same as my children's friends calling me Mr. Stew rather than Mrs. Stew.

It makes no sense unless you have a gender confused girl who requested to be called Master or a Gender confused cat who doesn't know it is appropriate for a female to be called mistress not master.

Short answer, do it if you want to, but know that it isn't correct.

BlueLucario said:

Because its like a relationship between cat ang girl. She like serves her in a way.

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You can show this in their actions. No need for "master," and it will likely confuse your readers.

a title for someone that is served can be either master (masculine) and mistress (feminine). It demonstrates the same relationship. I don't understand why this is hard.

You have a lot of respectful female titles from which to choose.

BlueLucario said:

This is hard.

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It's easier when you think of the decisions you make for your story in terms of how they impact the reader. Does it tell my reader something about the meaning of the story? Does it convey something about the characters? Or does it bring something to the story that I can't put across in any other way?

If the answer to all of these questions is no, don't do it.

I don;t see why not. In one book I read all nobility, male and female, were called 'princes'.

Hmmm ....

Master, I'm afraid, is standard English for a male in charge of something.

We make exceptions for combined forms ... master thief, master carpenter, shipmaster. I could get past these for a woman, simply because there is no good female alternative.

'Master', by itself, used for a young girl, would be a wallbanger for me.

Dame, madame, mistress, my lady, maîtresse, domina, maesta, padrona, patrona, dona, magistra ... and we aren't even moving out of the standard, familiar terms of Europe or trying for anything fancy like sensei or teacher or mater or ma mère, or eldest or older sister or ...

veinglory said:

I don;t see why not. In one book I read all nobility, male and female, were called 'princes'.

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This has some history behind it. Didn't Elizabeth I refer to herself as a 'prince'?

In most situations I would think 'mistress' would be used, but I suppose 'master' isn't taboo.