the.com/esquire
A title that means nothing legally and everything socially — lawyer cosplay with a suffix.
means A courtesy title (abbreviated Esq.) tacked after a name — in the US mostly used by lawyers, in Britain historically a rank just below knighthood for untitled gentlemen.
from Traces back through Old French 'esquier' to Latin 'scutarius' — 'shield-bearer' — from 'scutum,' shield. An esquire started as the knight's attendant, the guy literally carrying his armor and gear; over centuries the job description evaporated but the prestige stuck, drifting upward from 'knight's helper' to 'respectable landed gentleman' to, eventually, 'anyone who passed the bar exam and likes how Esq. looks after their name.'
- origin
- Medieval squire, one rank below knight
- legal weight
- Zero outside signaling you passed the bar
- usage
- Only lawyers still bother writing it
- irony
- Knights needed it; knights are now extinct