messieurs or messeurs

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Anonymous

#256747 Thu, 17 Aug 06 07:54 AM

Hi, would somebody please clarify the following for me:

1) what is the difference between messieurs and messeurs?

2) why is a company sometimes addressed as messeurs or messieurs?

3) what is the abbreviation of messieurs or messeurs, is it M/s?

Thanks in advance for answering the above.

Anonymous

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nona the brit

#256755 Thu, 17 Aug 06 08:42 AM

1) Messieurs is correct and messeurs is a mis-spelling. Messieurs is French.

2/3) In English we do not use messieurs. We only use the abbreviation - Messrs (pronounced messers). Messrs is just the plural for Mr. It occassionally gets used in company names and so on, or if you are referring to several men by name in a formal way. So, instead of saying Mr. Smith, Mr. Jones and Mr. Bloggs attended the training, you could say 'Messrs Smith, Jones and Bloggs attended the training.

nona the brit

Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004

England

Veteran Member (11,354)

The name says it all.

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Philip

#256884 Thu, 17 Aug 06 05:06 PM

Nona The Brit wrote:

1) Messieurs is correct and messeurs is a mis-spelling. Messieurs is French.

What a difference a letter makes. Change the e to a , and we have masseur (still men, of course). So, at the spa, one would have the choice from masseurs Brock, Favio or Bruno. (Forgive my playful attitude.)

Philip

Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005

USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)

Veteran Member (6,181)

At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen

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Anonymous

#257079 Fri, 18 Aug 06 09:28 AM

Many thanks for your reply Nona.

I would like to clarify the use of messieurs furthermore:

1) I see a lot of time in contract agreement that the abbreviation of messieurs is M/s, why is that?

2) when you address a company as messieurs, does that mean that you are addressing to the important people of a companay e.g. President and VP

Anonymous

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Philip

#257147 Fri, 18 Aug 06 04:26 PM

Anonymous wrote:

Many thanks for your reply Nona.

I would like to clarify the use of messieurs furthermore:

1) I see a lot of time in contract agreement that the abbreviation of messieurs is M/s, why is that?

2) when you address a company as messieurs, does that mean that you are addressing to the important people of a companay e.g. President and VPOne would assume so.

I'm not sure what the politically correct thing to do is these days, vis-à-vis the increasing number of women in executive positions.

Philip

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Clive

#257250 Sat, 19 Aug 06 02:48 AM

Hi,

I believe the female equivalent of messieurs is mesdames.

However, I'd like to point out that the term messieurs is not used a lot these days. It seems a bit old-fashioned and quaint. In N. American business, a gdegree of informality is the norm. We'd typically just write that 'The meeting was attended by Tom Smith, Mary Jones and Bill Clark'. There's really no need to start worrying about whether to say messieurs, or about who is a man and who is a woman. Just use their names.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive