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How would you write that in a script? Mrs. Dobbs? Or should is be spelled out? Which way? And while we’re at it, how about Mister or Mr.? Your thoughts, please.
If you write it in dialogue then you should spell it out
For such well-known abbreviations, it probably falls under the category of "break the rules on purpose so as not to take the rules too far." There are a slew of abbreviations, however, that definitely need to be spelled out because they're ambiguous, obscure or misleading.
For example, Col. is a terrible abbreviation for Colonel since most Americans pronounce it "Kernal." Lt. isn't much better because the American and British pronunciations are so different (in an American film, one might want to spell the Brit's dialogue phonetically as leff-tenant). Fr. can be Father or Friar, Sr. can be Sister or Señor, and so on. So in general I agree with spelling out abbreviations, but Mr. and Mrs. might be worth excepting (in which case, spell out Master for boys).
Ms. is a challenge because I have no idea what this is supposed to be abbreviating. I suppose I'd write it out "Mizz" unless the speaker was being a jerk, in which case it'd be "Mizz-z-z-z-z."
I do. Isn�t it the same as writing out numbers in dialogue?
So long as it is clear what it is then it's fine. Nobody is going to see Mr - even in dialogue - and wonder what is meant by it.
With numbers, it's different because they could be read in different ways and may initially confuse a poor actor, who may see 1998 and say 1-9-9-8. Also, aesthetically, numbers don't look as good on the page. They seem lazy somehow. Same goes for many abbreviations, however, Mr and Mrs are fine and in the dictionary as words unto themselves.
Ah, got ya. I just assumed that any abbrievation would be written out in full in dialogue like numbers. I knew it wouldn't be seen but I guess I just do it still because of my OCD lol.
How would you write that in a script? Mrs. Dobbs? Or should is be spelled out? Which way? And while we’re at it, how about Mister or Mr.? Your thoughts, please.
Clarity is king. What is the easiest to digest for a reader. Below are two examples.
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Mrs., Missus or Misses?
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