Quoting John Cowan <jcowan@...>:
> I think that "Madame" in English is solely a title. The brothelkeeper is
> a "madam", but she may be addressed as "Madame". In addition, English
> lacks plurals for its native titles Mister/Missus/Miz (though Miss has the
> plural Misses), and in excruciatingly correct style uses Messieurs and
> Mesdames, which latter sometimes gets semi-anglicized to Madames.
> (Better than pronouncing it [mEz'deimz].)
So the "Mssrs" (frequently found in The Economist) which my lexica resolutely
refuses to regonize is a bizarre abbreviation of "Messieurs"?
Andreas