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

[CoolToned]

That's it really.

For 2 months I was on a business trip to America. If I had a penny for every time someone said "yes ma'am", "no ma'am" etc I would be able to buy the Moon. I'M 26 FFS!!!

I'm from the Southern US so it's very common and not necessarily an indication of age. Just politeness. And of course it rhymes with spam.