Periods after abbreviations

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Mon, Jun 28, 2004 at 11:18:17PM -0400, Baker, John wrote:
>
>         Jesse did not clarify why he thinks that "Ms" should
> not have a period.  My initial thought was that he meant
> that actual words, such as Ms and Mrs (neither of which is
> an abbreviation for anything), should not have periods.

"Mrs" isn't an abbreviation? Could have fooled me. I trusted
my trusty OED when it told me that it's shortened from
"mistress".

"Ms" on the other hand really isn't an abbreviation, and this,
rather than any sense of British lack-of-periodness, is the
secondary reason why I don't use a period after it.

The main reason is, of course, pretension.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED