ToBE #39: Mesdames and Missus

Mesdames

“What is ‘mesdames’?”, you ask.
Just as ‘sirs’ is the plural of ‘sir’, ‘mesdames’ is the plural of ‘madam’.

Don’t ask me why. I don’t know the answer.

As I have mentioned earlier, ma’am is preferred to ‘madam’ as a standalone form of addressing or referring to a person, due to a certain meaning associated with the word ‘madam’.

Missus

‘Missus’ is shortedned to ‘Mrs.’!
It is better to avoid saying,

• Your missus picked up the phone
• Gopal’s missus is not well
  

Instead, use:

• Your wife picked up the phone
• Mrs. Gopal is unwell
• The missus is planting saplings in the garden (notice the ‘The’ before ‘missus’)