There used to be an anecdote around the American Cambridge that, whether apocryphal or not, had wide currency. One of the Radcliffe College dorms being Bertram Hall, story has it that when a lady was introduced to a visiting French academician as the mistress of Bertram Hall, he apologized for not knowing who Bertram Hall was.The man had to be a Frenchman, for in France a mistress, especially the maîtresse en titr…
SOURCE: John Simon at 08:24PM on January 21, 2013