Terry O'Reilly

speaker

4,084 appearances 18 recordings 1 series first heard Apr 2026 last heard 5 Sep

Terry O'Reilly’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 18 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 5.

Appearances

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Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly · Billionaire Tourism for the Super Wealthy · 25 Jul 2026 podcast

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Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly · When You're This Big, They Call You Mister · 18 Jul 2026 podcast

I received a letter the other day addressed to Mr. Terry O'Reilly.

There was nothing unusual about it, except I suddenly wondered where that word came from, the word Mr., which was abbreviated to MR. It's one of those words we see and hear a lot, and their origins are interesting.

They're called honorifics.

Honorifics are titles that refer to a person in a formal or respectful manner.

The word Mr. comes from old 15th century English usage to distinguish the head of a household.

For example, the patriarch of a family would be named Mr. Johnson.

His sons would be referred to as Mr. Jed Johnson and Mr. George Johnson.

Sometimes the word Mr. was combined with other high titles like Mr. Prime Minister or Mr. Speaker.

But the feminine version of that was rarely Mrs., but rather Madam Prime Minister or Madam Speaker.

Which brings us to the honorific title of Mrs. The title of Mrs., spelled M-R-S period, was a contraction of the word Mistress.

It was used historically for both married and unmarried women.

Then in the 1600s, a distinction was made using Mrs. for married women and Miss for single women.

Note the abbreviated word MRS period is rarely spelled out in full, and there seems to be no standard spelling, either M-I-S-S-U-S or M-I-S-S-I-S, which leads to the question, why is there an R in MRS period if it comes from the word Mrs.?

Well, that's because both Mrs. and Miss are rooted in the word mistress, which, back in the day, was a title given to women who had authority, control, or power.

Think headmistress of a school.

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