Buttons is a character in the British Christmas stage play of Cinderella — the noisy, jokey kind called a pantomime, not the Disney film. He is Cinderella's friend in the house, usually a servant or page boy, and he is kind to her when her family is not. He is often a little in love with her; the audience can see it, and they shout for him, but she still marries the prince. The name is not a surname in ordinary life: his jacket is covered in buttons, and that is what people call him. Though actually, if you only know the cartoon, you will look for mice and a fairy godmother and never find this man. He belongs to British theatre, especially at Christmas. Outside Britain — and in a Taiwan classroom — almost nobody meets him except in a text about pantomime. When the word is a name with a capital B, it is this friend, not the little round things on a shirt.