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Pedants' corner

Boring but is is Dr Brown or Dr. Brown

12 replies

winkywinkola · 17/10/2014 22:18

I always thought it was Dr. Brown. Has the full stop been dropped in modern times and is both acceptable?

OP posts:
DunedinSunshine · 18/10/2014 00:40

In American English, you always use the period/full stop as you also do in Mr., Mrs., etc. I think it's usually omitted in British English.

DrankSangriaInThePark · 18/10/2014 06:29

Apparently you don't use a full stop if the abbreviation is made up of the first and last letters of the original word.

I've always used one, I'm sure we were taught to at school!

You learn something every day! Grin

StuntNun · 18/10/2014 06:47

As Dunedin says the convention in UK English is for Dr, Mr etc. whereas in American English they use Dr., Mr.

DadDadDad · 18/10/2014 16:48

You are wrong about one thing, OP: it's not boring, this is meat and drink to Pedants' Corner. Grin

I suspect like eg and ie, the non punctuated form will win out, as it's far less hassle to type on a smartphone!

prism · 19/10/2014 15:12

There's definitely a logic to having no full stop if the abbreviation ends with the same letter as the original word, so we can excuse ourselves for not using one. And here's a thing- "Mrs" is the only abbreviation that I can think of (though I haven't thought very hard about it to be honest) that doesn't have an original word. Well it does, but it's "mistress", as it is for "miss", so assuming the abbreviations mean different things, they can't both be short for the same word, and "Mrs" would appear to be an orphaned abbreviation.

SconeRhymesWithGone · 19/10/2014 15:32

Prism, your post is confusing to me. Mrs predates Miss (I think). They are both abbreviations for mistress; Mrs is actually a contraction of mistress. The distinction between one for married women and one for unmarried women happened after the contraction came into use. Why is Mrs. the orphan?

prism · 19/10/2014 16:55

Fair point, but I would have thought that more recently the whole word "mistress" would only be used (if at all, when not in the sense of a woman someone is having an affair with) of an unmarried woman, hence my theory that "Mrs" is effectively left as a sort of word in itself. I could be completely wrong about that, but the fact remains that two abbreviations for the same word mean different things, which is odd.

SconeRhymesWithGone · 19/10/2014 17:53

Well, you do still hear the phrase "mistress of the house" sometimes, which harkens back to the original meaning. I do agree that, to some extent, "Mrs" has become its own word, especially considering that it is often rendered in dialogue, etc. as "Missus." I still cling to the notion that it is an abbreviation because, as a feminist, I think it strengthens the case to use "Ms."

prism · 19/10/2014 20:46

I completely agree. And it never ceases to amaze me that the French get away with having the same word for "wife" and "woman". Sad

MirandaGoshawk · 21/10/2014 17:42

In Arabic they have the same word for 'woman' and 'house' Shock

prism · 23/10/2014 15:59

Good grief. That probably explains a lot, but I'm not sure exactly which lot.Sad

MirandaGoshawk · 23/10/2014 21:30

They would argue that it means that the woman is in charge of the home. As I understand it, the woman is responsible for the decor, decisions about new sofas, etc. Hmm. The man is presumably responsible for everything else in life.

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