Mr. and Mrs. or Mr and Mrs?

[laura]

Just one more Q from me - I'd be ever so grateful if someone could tell me whether or not Mr. and Mrs. should have a full stop after them - I have always put one there - but I see that most people don't - which is correct?

[Twoddle]

It's largely a matter of personal - or perhaps national - style. In the UK we used to use Mr. and Mrs., and I understand that's the way it's still done in the USA. (Dave may wish to comment.) Nowadays in the UK it's more normal to omit the stop when an abbreviation ends with the same letter of the word it's abbreviating, but otherwise to use a stop. So, for the UK it tends to be:
Mr
Mrs
Dr, but
Gov.
Hon.
Maj.

[Dave]

Dec 11, 2009 22:20:12 GMT Twoddle said:

and I understand that's the way it's still done in the USA. (Dave may wish to comment.)

Yes, for the most part. Mass mailing and the postal service tend to want to eliminate any punctuation, including periods and (oh, no!) apostrophes.

[Deleted]

So Fenwick Drive is abbreviated to Fenwick Dr. but Doctor Fenwick is abbreviated to Dr Fenwick?

I'd hate to open a can of worms here by suggesting that there ought to be a good argument for abbreviating Doctor to D'r and Mister to M'r but I'm sure I'd enjoy watching it if someone else did!

[Sue M-V]

Oct 23, 2010 3:01:48 GMT @manatthewindow said:

I'd hate to open a can of worms here by suggesting that there ought to be a good argument for abbreviating Doctor to D'r and Mister to M'r but I'm sure I'd enjoy watching it if someone else did!

I should think that's extremely unlikely to happen!

As far as "rules" go, I understand that if an abbreviation ends with the same letter as the word it's abbreviating, then no full stop is necessary. You need a full stop only when you end the abbreviation in the middle of the word: so Co. Ltd, for example. That's why you don't need one on Mr or Ms or Dr (doctor), but you do need one for Dr. (drive).

(That's if you prefer logic to history!)

Sue

[Pete]

Oct 23, 2010 3:01:48 GMT @manatthewindow said:

So Fenwick Drive is abbreviated to Fenwick Dr. but Doctor Fenwick is abbreviated to Dr Fenwick?

I'd hate to open a can of worms here by suggesting that there ought to be a good argument for abbreviating Doctor to D'r and Mister to M'r but I'm sure I'd enjoy watching it if someone else did!

As Sue says, it's unlikely to happen but I'd like it if it did!