"Miss" being the equivalent of "Sir"

[heidihole]

I was reading this article today about the ball boys and girls of Wimbledon.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2346256/Never-mind-Andy-Murray--ball-girls-boys-REALLY-hell-star-Wimbledon.html?ico=home^editors_choice

I was sad to see that they are all professionally and formally trained to say (for example holding open a door) "after you, Sir" or "after you, Miss"

AIBU to think that the equivalent of Sir is not Miss! It should be Madam or M'am.

quotes from the article:

From the minute they step in here, they?re under no illusions as to what is acceptable, down to tying shoelaces with two knots, addressing us all as ?Miss? or ?Sir? and opening doors,? she says.

Goldson trains her ball boys and girls not to chat with the players. If spoken to or asked about a line call, they are instructed to say: ?I don?t know, Sir/Miss? ? even if they do.

Their backs are straight, their hair is gleaming, their shirts are tucked in, they look you in the eye, smile sweetly and hold doors open with an ?After you, Miss?.

If I was asked the equivalent of Miss I would say Mr. As in, "Excuse me, Mr, have you got the time please? Excuse me, Miss have you got the time please"

A small thing but irritating me none the less.

Manager of a giraffe?

cafe chain called giraffe, not a zookeeper.

Personally I'd like it to be Sir or Mr for everyone, but I suppose that's wishful thinking. I don't see why gendering the honorific or title is necessary.

I will make an exception to this should I ever get the chance to be Countess Aetae - much better than Count. Dracula ruined that for everyone.

I do agree it should be Sir and Ma'am but I'm not surprised that the ball girls and ball boys are told to use sir and miss as they are all from local schools and those seem to be the most common school uses.

If there was ever a case for a revival of the gender-neutral 'comrade' ...

Re: Juliet Bravo, it's now becoming more common for female commanding officers to be called 'Sir' in TV cop shows, not entirely sure about real life.

But comrade isn't just gender neutral, it's hierarchy neutral...

At high school out teachers were either called Miss or Sir.

Teachers being 'miss' pissed off my teachers. Who were mostly married. We were told (and this will be archaic but correct etiquette, I'll bet you) that 'Miss' on its own is rude, as is 'Mister' on its own, whereas 'Sir' on its own is polite.

If you're going to call someone 'Miss' it should be 'Miss so-and-so'. Bit of a mouthful in this context.

In the forces a male officer is Sir, a female officer is Ma'am (it should be pronounced Mam as in Jam not Marm as in Harm - but is generally mispronounced)

Younger male officers get called Mr Smith, females Miss Smith but that is usually correct (ie, they aren't married). With older (late entry) officers they will be called by rank and surname. I get Ma'am, Sergeant Major or Q Dallas.

I wouldn't like to be called Miss, but admit getting called Ma'am makes me feel soooo old . Q (my job title) is easier.

LtEve, I am now thrilled by the thought of you as Q, behind a big desk, sending spies all over the world

However, in this situation, I would agree that Ma'am would seem more appropriate.

Wish I was that important! Sadly it's just an abbreviation. I quite like Sgt Maj, makes me feel scary

I liked the line in Prime Suspect when she says "Don't call me Ma'am, I'm not the bloody Queen."

Actually I would quite like to be called Guv.

I bet that many of the people who think that Miss is the equivalent of Sir are the same people who think that Ms signifies a divorced woman.

They are mistaken.

I believe Devon schools use ma'am as in jam, too.

I remember being taught that "ma'am" was the normal mode of address for female teachers before the wars.

The same teacher refused to answer to "miss" - we called her Mrs Hername.

why should it be sir or Mr for everyone? why not Ms or maam? or a whole new term?

that was in response to aetae

DS school is quite hot on titles, the male teachers are Mr Name, the females are Miss, Mrs or Ms - according to their preference, I assume. Female parents they are quite good at sussing out, for eg they call me Ms Frickett and I didn't have to ask them to do so. My name is different from DS though, so maybe that's their default.

(Note, that's the first time I've written Ms Frickett and now I wish it was my name in RL)

Third because those titles have more cachet by virtue of the legacy of history. The world being run by men and all... It's easier to make the more powerful titles generic than imbue the less powerful titles with artificial gravitas.

I don't get called Miss Cabbage at my dancing school, just Cabbage. Partially because all three of the younger teachers have names with S in them at it sounds odd. The oldest teacher (in her 60's) is Mrs Surname.

I know my female teacher friends hate being 'Missed' but surely they hold some responsibility for allowing it? I mean, they are the ones in charge in their own classrooms. If it were me I would point blank refuse to answer to it.

I wasn't surprised that Inspector Tennison didn't like being called Ma'am, especially if it was pronounced "Marm".

Those who disdain capital letters lay themselves open to having a Giraffe mistaken for a giraffe.

The whole "sir" thing in schools annoys me, TBH. DC's school use names (Mr X, Miss or Mrs Y) and it always strikes me as slightly wierd when visiting teams call their accompanying teachers "sir" - if the teachers can be bothered to know the DC's by name, surely they should do the same in return? (yes, FWIW, I do get that this is not the DC's choice but school rules)

As for equivalence, I don't think there is one single equivalent, but I can well believe that some female tennis players would object to "ma'am" so I guess "miss" is the safe (if annoying option)

I stopped caring about being called Miss (or rather Miiiiiiisss) years ago (teacher) If I email students I sign them Mrs E (rather than full surname) and will refer to the other teacher in my dept as Mrs H. I find it odd when the kids email back though and start "Dear Mrs" or "Hi Mrs" (no surname) I guess they know I'm married, even though they call me Miss. I did have one colleague, who's left now, who used to call all female teachers Miss (even in the staff room- where it's perfectly acceptable to use first names) That was weird. It always made me feel like he couldn't be bothered to remember who I was.