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Re: "Madam"/"Madame" Chair/man/person (was: Umlauts)

From:Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...>
Date:Thursday, October 30, 2003, 3:47
On 29 Oct 2003 at 16:18, Mark J. Reed wrote:

> To take this a bit further off-topic (sorry) - what's with the > <Madam>/<Madame> spelling difference? > > I was taught that a "madam" (or several "madams") ran a whorehouse, > while "Madame" (or several "Mesdames") was the title form. But it > seems that "Madam" is used all the time in titles, including that > of Madeleine Albright's book, _Madam_Secretary_. > > So what's the straight dope? :) > > -Mark
"Madam" is English, "Madame" is artificially-Frenchified. Paul