When I was younger, I used “ma’am” and “sir” as respectful ways to address people. I still do to this day. Only once did I have a lady get mad at me for referring to her as “ma’am,” but it was so automatic that I couldn’t exactly stop. Never have I used either term with disrespectful intent.
Using “sir” and “ma’am” was my way of addressing instructors in engineering school, because the faculty was so diverse that I would otherwise butcher their names.
When I was younger, I used “ma’am” and “sir” as respectful ways to address people. I still do to this day. Only once did I have a lady get mad at me for referring to her as “ma’am,” but it was so automatic that I couldn’t exactly stop. Never have I used either term with disrespectful intent.
Using “sir” and “ma’am” was my way of addressing instructors in engineering school, because the faculty was so diverse that I would otherwise butcher their names.
And that’s why everybody gets to be “Dr. B.” to me. There’s no way I can pronounce that foreign name!