for feeling I died a bit inside when I was called "mam"?

[CoolToned]

That's it really.

I was thinking this would be about how, as soon as you have DC, a lot of people stop calling you "name" and instead start calling you "mum".

Mam being interchangeable with mum round where I live.

It's written ma'am and rhymes with spam, but lots of people make it rhyme with harm, which I think must come from seeing it written as ma'am.
If you think about how the word must have evolved from Madam with people gradually dropping the 'd' it makes sense.

Madam
Ma(d)am
Ma'am
"Mam"

Is madam said madarm then, or madam (like "you naughty little madam")?

"Madam" is now looking wrong!

I remember being in the airport and a tiny girl who was being carried in front of me by her dad said "Bonjour mademois...madame". I too died a little inside.

I went on a cruise last month and they all call you ma'am. I love it. Reminds me of being in America.

I felt old being addressed as Senora on holiday this year. Then I remembered I was with my teen DDs (the senoritas of the group) and tried to accept it.

If one person could have called me senorita I would have been so happy!

Wait until someone tells their child to ' be careful of the lady '

I inwardly died the first time I was called Madame was so convinced I could pass for Madamoselle op just embrace it it is fine honestly

In France* obviously. I quite liked being called Mam in America made me feel a bit of a Matriarch

I have one particular tesco delivery driver always calls me mam I don't mind at all I think it's quite sweet don't look to far into it, DH and I always laugh when he pulls up we say oh look here's mam. He's very sweet and younger than me!! I guess it's an Americanism, unless someone swears at me I don't bat an eyelid if someone calls me love, darling etc and I'm a hcp where it's forbidden to call any patients anything other than their name.

I got called Madamoiselle in a Belgian restaurant on my 30th birthday, after months of getting "Madame" everywhere. It made my week

Crunchymum

I think you're the one who needs to get a grip. Why does it bother you so much?

I don't think there's any form of address which nobody objects to! I'd be a bit put out if I was referred to as 'that girl' but wouldn't mind lady or woman. I'm almost 30, I'm not a girl. I've only been called ma'am in America so see that as a cultural thing - equivalent to calling a man you don't know 'sir' which I've never heard objections to.

I've always been a "girl" or "young lady"!

Oh boy...

Again, lighthearted ;)

In the USA......its great to get called "miss" not so great to get called "ma'am."
All the guys get is "sir" regardless of age.
I quite like it. Useful if you are trying to get the attention of say someone who has dropped something. Calling "EXCUSE ME MA'AM" narrows it down a bit

YANBU

It's such slap in the face. when that happened to me, I knew that "bye bye youth". bloody kids age you so much

yes, light hearted too!

That was nice vvviola

I think of it a marm more than mam. It's not a word I have reason to say out loud very often though so I don't think it really matters, does it?

Really don't like being called Madam - AFAIK I don't run a whorehouse .

I know how you feel, I was sad to be called señora recently, I feel like a señorita.

I recently was referred to (jovially by a 20 something nurse) as "that wee woman over there."

When my class were learning Spanish I was used as an example of Senorita as I'm not married!

They were year 4 and surprisingly judgemental that I had a dd but was unmarried.

I was dreading a child pointing out I wasn't young enough to be a Senorita. as the Senora example was much younger than me.

Where I come from you often get 'love' or similar, where I've moved to tends to be madam or ma'am (and I'm in my early twenties).

I went to stay with a friend and was called 'lass' or 'miss' which I much preferred

e1y1
That'd be madame