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Saturday, February 8, 2003, 10:11:30 AM, Ken Frazer wrote: KF> On the term major as a form of address to a KF> sergeant-major, I note that Chambers 1998 Dictionary, KF> under "major" says: "by courtesy, a sergeant-major". I KF> presume they had found this usage somewhere. Possibly KF> off parade, in their Mess, sergeants in some regiments KF> addressed their sergeant majors thus; perhaps some still KF> do. The 2002 two volume 'Shorter Oxford English Dictionary', under noun sense 1 c, says that 'major' is military slang for sergeant-major, and dates the usage to the early twentieth century. -- Best regards, E J Thompson mailto:[log in to unmask]