Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Messrs.

So I was reading an article from the Wall Street Journal and came across an abbreviation I didn't recognize: Messrs. It was in reference to Bernanke and Geithner and I couldn't think what it could be other than maybe an abbreviation for Messieurs, which is the plural of Monsieur. That seemed odd to me since it was the Wall Street Journal, an American paper and they are both Americans. So I Googled it and sure enough, that did the trick. Messrs. is the plural of Mister, go figure. It's kind of odd that I don't recall coming across that anytime before this in my life. Of course Wikipedia sheds a bit more light. They say it is in fact an abbreviation for Messieurs, but it's what we use for the plural of mister. Bizarre...

2 comments:

Jack W. said...

I guess when they first used the abbreviation that seemed most obvious they had to go that way:
Mr + Mr =
Mrs.

Woops, already taken.

So, let's go with, eh, Messrs

squirrelyearl said...

Good point. Duly noted.