Thanks everyone for that insightful discussion. take care, Walter

I think that some time - this form of address might have been the style of the times - I remember my father - receiving mail - addressed to him - eg. John Smith, Esq. he was a cook/chef My son - when he was just a child - teen - also received some mail - addressed to him - Esq. he was a student When he received letter of acceptance to the Universities - the letters were also address Esq. Styles change - sometimes words , titles etc - are misused - and become the norm - for a time. Perhaps at some time - a more formal way of addressing people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esquire Cheers, Stella At 12:12 PM 28/01/2008, Walter Morgan wrote: >Thanks everyone for that insightful discussion. > >take care, > >Walter > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >SUSSEX-PLUS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without >the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

My Readers Digest dictionary gives the orgin as Brit and the definition as "A polite title appended to a man's name when no other title is used." (John Brown Esquire OR alternatively Mr John Brown). It was in common usage on mail in NZ about 50 years ago but seems to have died out as I have not seen it very often in recent years. Malcolm Dobson Gisborne NZ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Walter Morgan" <gator@gbta.net> To: <SUSSEX-PLUS@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 9:12 AM Subject: Re: [SXP] Position: Esquire on Marriage Cert > Thanks everyone for that insightful discussion. > > take care, > > Walter > >