To be annoyed with how he addressed me?

[vivariumvivariumsvivaria]

I am an expert in my field. Got a random linkedin message from a man who is specialising in my field, he wants to make connections with people like me, fair enough.

He addressed me as "Dear Dr/Mamma "

I've half a mind to message him back to point out that he's being unprofessional/crass/women can be described as other than holding a doctorate or being a parent.

AIBU to think "fuck off"?

Or, is this just a cultural difference between a surly Scottish woman and an enthusiastic USA male?

If your qualifications are on linkedin, there is no need to refer to you as anything other than Dr - and I doubt he would have addressed a male as 'Dear Dr/Mr'

So I'd ignore it anyway. Another tedious male who's just shown himself to be utterly without anything to offer you in terms of 'contact'.

Is he definitely US? The group I've come across using ma'am the most are well educated people fresh from the subcontinent.

As quickkimchi and HollowTalk have said, it's not how Americans use ma'am.

No one writes Dear Ma'am Smith. No one. In fact, no one writes Dear Ma'am. They'll say yes, ma'am, or here's your order, ma'am, but it's not an emailed salutation and it's never used with a last name.

If your name was Jane Smith and they wrote Dear Miss Jane, then maybe, just maybe, I could see it being an (inappropriate) American colloquialism. But never Dear Ma'am Smith.

Typo - madam or ma'am.
Come on, use common sense. I'd point it out to him and have a laugh about it.

I am an expert in my field.

Relevance? The response, which is either a typo or a language issue, would be inappropriate no matter what your position was.

It's a typo op.

Maybe write back Dear Master ...? Dear Boy? Dear Laddie?

I know a lot of Americans, and have never experienced that.

I'd be inclined to answer the specific query (if there is one), and add a PS: 'I am not your mother, and if I were I would tell you off for your dreadful manners and disrespect toward a colleague!'

@Twizbe

I think it may be a typo. If he's in the US he might have meant Ma'ma.

In some areas (particularly the south) ma'ma is a very formal term of respect

It's ma'am.

@IceHeart

I have an American friend, from New York, he always calls me Mamma, and any other lady we know too.

What, as in “you are one Hot Mamma girlfriend!” ?

@MintyMabel

I am an expert in my field.

Relevance? The response, which is either a typo or a language issue, would be inappropriate no matter what your position was.

She is giving us the context in which he approached her- peer-to-peer, expert-to-expert, in order to illustrate that it was not just some spammy message and that there may indeed be value for her in engaging with him if she can get past the “Mamma” problem.

Definitely a typo. No one would use that title to address someone.

See, I don’t think it is a typo. As a couple of others have pointed out, it might be the case if he wrote “Dear Dr /Mamma” meaning Dear Dr /Ma’am. But the fact he wrote Dr/Mamma is a bit off - no one says Dear Ma’am Smith, for example. But they might say “Dear Dr Smith/Ma’am” (at a push 😂)

Either way, it’s weird. But I don’t think it’s a typo.

Are you sure he is a specialist in your field or a random whose next gambit will be to tell you about his Nigerian $$$ trapped in a Swiss bank account.