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28th October 2015
02:03pm GMT

Apparently, 'Mrs.', doesn't actually stand for 'Missus' at all... it stands for 'Mistress'.
The site explains: "Originally, Mrs. was an abbreviation for mistress, the female counterpart of master.
"The word mistress had a more general meaning of a woman who is in charge of something.
"The abbreviated form was used most frequently as a title for a married woman."
Eventually, the pronunciation became 'r'less, with 'missus' considered the most acceptable way to pronounce it.
By the end of the 18th century, the title Mrs. no longer represented a Mistress, in fact a mistress was explicitly opposite to a married woman. Ahem.
Interestingly, the word Mr. was pronounced 'Master' originally but gradually changed to the 'mister' of today.
We love this little nugget - (as you can tell, we're GREAT fun at parties.)