Mr. Toad

Mr. Toad, of Toad Hall, is one of the main characters in the novel The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame and also the title character of the A. A. Milne play Toad of Toad Hall based on the book.

Character

Mr. Toad is an anthropomorphic common toad who is the village squire, being the wealthy owner and occupant of Toad Hall. Toad is very rich and a bit of a fop, with a penchant for Harris tweed suits. He owns his own horse, and is able to indulge his impulsive desires, such as punting, house boating and hot air ballooning. Toad is intelligent, creative and resourceful; however, he is also narcissistic, self-centred almost to the point of sociopathy, and completely lacking in even the most basic common sense. His reckless interest in motor cars leads to an episode in which he steals a car and subsequently crashes it. The result is a twenty-year prison sentence, but he escapes, dressed as a washer woman, to regain his family seat of Toad Hall from the clutches of the weasels.

Although he has escaped from gaol, and the police initially pursue him, he is never re-arrested. No reason is ever given for this, but in the 1949 Disney movie, he is shown as being framed for theft when he should be in jail for twenty years. In The Willows in Winter, the sequel to the 1995 animated film, Toad is recognised by the Chief Judge as the villain he convicted before and is hauled before a court, but he is released because of several good deeds he has done since his escape.

.mr

.mr is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Mauritania. A local contact is required to register a domain name under .mr. Registrations are taken directly at the second level, but a .gov.mr second level domain exists in which governmental sites can be found at the third level.

External links

Mr.

Mister, usually written in its abbreviated form Mr. (US) or Mr (US & UK), is a commonly-used English honorific for men under the rank of knighthood. The title derived from earlier forms of master, as the equivalent female titles Mrs, Miss, and Ms all derived from earlier forms of mistress. Master is sometimes still used as an honorific for boys and young men, but its use is increasingly uncommon.

The modern plural form is Misters, although its usual formal abbreviation Messrs(.) derives from use of the French title messieurs in the 18th century.Messieurs is the plural of monsieur (originally mon sieur, "my lord"), formed by declining both of its constituent parts separately.

Historic etiquette

Historically, mister—like Sir or my lord—was applied only to those above one's own status in the peerage. This understanding is now obsolete, as it was gradually expanded as a mark of respect to those of equal status and then to all gentlemen. It is now used indiscriminately.

In past centuries, Mr was used with a first name to distinguish among family members who might otherwise be confused in conversation: Mr Doe would be the eldest present; younger brothers or cousins were then referred to as Mr Richard Doe and Mr William Doe and so on. Such usage survived longer in family-owned business or when domestic servants were referring to adult male family members with the same surname: "Mr Robert and Mr Richard will be out this evening, but Mr Edward is dining in," but such usage today is rare in American culture but still quite common in others as a sign of respect when first names are being used, the last name is not known, or where English is not the mother tongue.

Mr. (band)

Mister also known as Mr. is a Hong Kong, Chinese rock band composed of lead vocalist Alan Po, rhythm guitarist Ronny Lay, lead guitarist Quincy Tam, bassist and backing vocalist Desmond Tam, and drummer Tom To.

The quintet originated from the underground indie scene where they were known as White Noise. Their breakthrough performance was their gig at Alan Tam's birthday party. They were subsequently recommended to Universal Music by himself who was deeply impressed by their skill and talent.

References

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