Do you HATE using the words Sir or Mam?

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Only if required for work

Or panhandling

Also I am trans so prefer not being called "ma'am".

Some women find it offensive to be called "ma'am"

They prefer "miss"

"Respect" can't be measured

Precious lil "people" that keep saying "respect" like Aretha Franklin, are too vague. They are trying to lump everything they don't like into "disrespectful"


Precision of language


They are claiming the authority to veto anything anyone does, on the basis that, it is "disrespectful", but you can't measure respect

That means, anything they don't like, they label as "disrespectful"


Extremely manipulative

Dictionary definition of "respect"



Some idiot aikido instructor and karate instructor had the nerve to tell me to call them "sir"




f**k you, penis

OMG YES I do. I had to use it a lot around my family. They liked using it as a weapon to remind me of my place. It's one of those many subtleties I learned over the years.

thankfully my time in the military was around officers who did not insist on me prefacing every statement to them with "sir" or "ma'am." the ones who would insist on that primarily were engineering and infantry officers. brassholes to me. and as a civil servant, the officers that would insist on this civilian prefacing each statement to them with "sir" or "ma'am" generally would come away angry, as there was no law that said i had to reduce myself to a buck private around them. rank and last name is all that is required.

I've never been required to address anyone by those words, but my parents were born in the '30s and I do live just above the edge of the south, so I don't get offended when anyone calls me M'am, and I occasionally use the words myself if I'm feeling inclined. In my experience, people using them are trying to be friendly and polite--especially if they're trying to get your attention but don't know your name. It's not always about status--whether real or perceived. I'm not going to get my britches in a bunch over exactly who is "owed" which designation and who doesn't "deserve" it, precisely what the definitions and origins are, and so forth. (CHILL, people.)

That being said, if you want me to address you as, "Hey--a-hole!" I will be glad to oblige.

"Sir!? I work for a living, Airman! You will address me as Sergeant Major Dickerson!"

What I hate and I still get sometimes is being called "ma'am" on the phone, occasionally it happens repeatedly even when I tell people my name or that I'm a dude. THAT'S annoying as hell. It's b/c my voice is somewhat higher especially when I get excited, but frankly it's still emasculating when it happens.

some of the most estimable men of history had high voices, such as abe lincoln and george patton.

What kind of weirdo parents would expect their kid to call them sir or ma'am? Mam is ok because it's northern affection but not ma'am.

It's ok to call someone mum or dad or granddad or grandma or auntie or uncle. I even call my cousins 'cousin...' sometimes. It's not just a mark of respect, it's a mark of affection. I do notice it's never the younger relative (by a whole generation) who gets it, but that's about it.

I'm ok with kids calling teachers Mr or Miss too. I wish it was ma'am for school teachers. Miss isn't the equivalent of sir, sorry but it isn't.

It's weird on Corrie when the adults who work as factory girls (and boys) call their bosses 'Mrs Connor' or whatever. I've heard of that in real life in football but not in anything else. Except the army I guess. Bosses aren't any better than employees and neither do they deserve a certain amount of affection, too. What is ideal there is friendship and a shared goal. Yes, a boss is a leader but that doesn't make them 'in charge'. Maybe working in an artistic field makes me more of this opinion than I'd be otherwise.

I call my heroes by respectful names which they have earned.

I don't like calling people Sir or Ma'am if I have only just met them because they don't call me Ma'am, because I look young. Some stupid woman called me 'sweetie'. Nobody gets to call me that except my mother.

My stepdad calls everyone (male) Sir and gets called Sir back. It annoys me that he sends letters to the bank with 'Dear Sirs'. What if a Ma'am reads it? Sexist assumption.

I don't mind using Sir...though when I do it's typically not so much a respectful term as me poking fun at something they said lol I'll use Ma'am the same way. BUT I've never used Ma'am as a sign of respectful language though....because I personally don't feel like it is. I dislike being called Ma'am, it makes me feel like I am underlying being called a b**ch and it makes me feel old. So I'm not going to refer to another woman by a term I find insulting.

The use of Sir and Ma'am for parents is a pretty old one. There was a time it wasn't odd, it was very much a sign that you were listening and being obedient. Now it is like calling them a tyrant, so i don't know why a parent would want their kid to call them that these days.

I don't usually mind.

My native language has several forms.
There's a way of addressing strangers, the elderly and/or authority -- each with different flavors, most of it derived from literal familiar terms.
There's a form that is loosely more familiar than formal.
There's a form that is more 'maternal/paternal' than something more authoritative.
There's a form that is more of an 'equal' and informal yet still just as respecting even towards strangers.
Then there's a form that just addresses the elderly is a... Non-rude manner than just rude.
And a very convenient way to say a polite sentence with a single syllable.

From the way I see it, it's more to do with tones than wording.


In English, I'd go for Mister or Miss...
Sir or ma'am is just as convenient, but yes I'd call someone sir or ma'am if I do respect this person enough to deserve it regardless their status.

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Yep. It's not normally expected in Australia which is why is feels so weird on the very rare occasions someone expects me to say it.

Some idiots in martial arts insisted on getting called "sir " and "ma'am"




That type of ass holes

Wanna remind you, you are inferior

They don't care about you

They are not trying to help you

They just want to be superior

Aunt blabby

That is correct


But whatever

They have a moral right to be ass holes





And if you don't like it, you need to leave the building