[Vwoolf] Mrs. vs Mrs

Fri Mar 1 08:46:53 EST 2019

Surely you mean, it’s the US that hasn’t ‘moved on’, or has British style now adopted the American double quotation mark?   I used to think I was fluent in both English and American, but not any more (which my computer is insisting I wrote “anymore”). Two people divided by a common language… J

From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces at lists.osu.edu] On Behalf Of Stuart N. Clarke via Vwoolf
Sent: Friday, March 01, 2019 3:47 AM
To: vwoolf at lists.osu.edu
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Mrs. vs Mrs

I would say that the old full-stops were (rigidly) standard across the English-speaking world, inc. Australia.  They started to disappear in the 1960s and 1970s.  Remember M.A. and Ph.D.? (That leaves LLB feeling a little uncomfortable.)  You could say that it’s the US that hasn’t “moved on”, or not as fast.  Even the French, I think, still like a comma in the address: 27, rue Barbe.

Stuart

From: Sarah M. Hall via Vwoolf 

Sent: Friday, March 1, 2019 8:33 AM

To: Anne Fernald ; Mark Hussey ; Caroline Webb 

Cc: Woolf Listserv 

Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Mrs. vs Mrs

Similar point to Caroline's: in terms of grammar, the current British standard is to drop the full point for contractions where the final letter is present, e.g. Mrs, Dr, St, Revd, and retain it for abbreviations, e.g. Prof., Capt., Rev. For initialisms the full points are nearly always dropped, e.g. UK, US, EU (sniff), BSc, PhD, BBC, FBI.

But with titles/places/proper names, as for quotations, you would reproduce the original exactly; so the 1925 edition would be Mrs. Dalloway and, strictly speaking, Monks House would be without the apostrophe, as this was on the gate. 

On Friday, 1 March 2019, 01:53:28 GMT, Caroline Webb via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote: 

It’s an interesting point (so to speak).  One of the many things I had to learn when I went to the US in the early 1980s was to add a full stop/period after abbreviations of this type; by the late twentieth century British (and Commonwealth) English had stabilised on using this only where the last letter of the abbreviation was not the same as the last letter of the full word if spelled out (so no full stop after “Mrs,” originally an abbreviation of “Mistress”).  

Presumably this style marker was not rigid in the 1920s—or Woolf and her press favoured the US approach.

Caroline

From: Vwoolf <vwoolf-bounces+caroline.webb=newcastle.edu.au at lists.osu.edu> On Behalf Of Anne Fernald via Vwoolf
Sent: Friday, 1 March 2019 12:43 PM
To: Mark Hussey <mhussey at verizon.net>
Cc: Woolf Listserv <vwoolf at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Subject: Re: [Vwoolf] Mrs. vs Mrs

That's right, Mark,

Since the first UK edition used the period, I reinstated it for CUP even though subsequent English editions dropped it. (It's always been part of the US editions.)

A

On Thu, Feb 28, 2019 at 7:48 PM Mark Hussey via Vwoolf <vwoolf at lists.osu.edu> wrote:

The period is there in the first UK and US editions (according to Kirkpatrick and Clarke), but it seems often to be omitted on the dustjacket copy of various editions (e.g. the Shakespeare Head).

From: Vwoolf [mailto:vwoolf-bounces+mhussey=verizon.net at lists.osu.edu] On Behalf Of Catherine Hollis via Vwoolf
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2019 6:56 PM
To: vwoolf listserve
Subject: [Vwoolf] Mrs. vs Mrs

Dear Woolfians,

There must have been discussion of this at some point that I am missing. 

Is it Mrs. Dalloway (with the period) or Mrs Dalloway (without)? The Cambridge edition uses "Mrs." and the Hogarth Press edition uses "Mrs" -- is one preferred over the other?

Thanks for any help,

Catherine

-- 

Catherine W. Hollis, PhD

Instructor, Fall Program for Freshmen

U.C. Berkeley

Berkeley, CA 94720

hollisc at berkeley.edu

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-- 

Anne E. Fernald <http://www.fordham.edu/info/24101/anne_fernald>  (she/her)

Professor of English and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Special Advisor to the Provost for Faculty Development

fernald at fordham.edu

Rose Hill: Cunniffe 230

718-817-3312

Lincoln Center: Martino Hall 422 

212-636-7613 

Spring 2019 Office Hours: T/F 9:15-11:00 at Lincoln Center & by appt.

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