While reading M. R. James' ghost story 'Wailing Well' I came accross the abbrevations ma. and mi. being used after the same name Stanley Judkins, like so Stanley Judkins ma. and Stanley Judkins mi.
I was wondering what this would mean in regards to the character. Mi. is used once at the start of the story, as is ma., but towards the end after Stanley dies mi. is used once again.
Could anyone please tell me what this means?
The "MA" after the name could stand for Masters of Arts. I have seen many people use that after their names, kind of like PhD. I haven't a clue about the use of "MI".
"You got a lot of attitude for someone going out of style." Danko Jones--I love living in the city
"Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it." --P.J. O'Rourke
The charcters Stanley Judkins ma. and Stanley Judkins mi. are two different people. I assume that the ma. stands for "master" (British equivalent of Junior) and mi. stands for "mister" (British equivalent of Senior). So Judkins ma. is the son of Judkins mi.
I realize I am 6 years late, but ma, mi refer to major and minor in twins. The two boys Judkins in the story were twins. That is why one survives at the end.
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