What Do You Mean, You Hate Being Called “Ma’am?”
I love it
I heard some of my fellow women are upset about being called “ma’am.” Is that right? What? Some of you have never even been called “ma’am,” you’re just afraid you’re going to be? You’re kidding.
Oh, you’ve been told the word “ma’am” means the speaker believes men you may not even know, the kind you just pass on the street, don’t find you desirable, anymore. They no longer wonder what you look like naked. They would really rather not know. I see.
No, actually, I don’t.
I fondly remember the first time I was called “ma’am.” I was in a bakery. There, sitting at a table, was a teenage girl whose mother was known in town for being from the south. “Being from the south” is a very big deal if you are a third- or fourth-generation New Englander, as I am on my mother’s side. We think it explains many things, among them the abundance of nineteenth-century statues below the Mason-Dixon line honoring military men who tried to overthrow our government and the presence of serious good manners. This girl I’m talking about who was raised by a mother from the south not only called me “ma’am,” she stood up to do it. We are, indeed, talking serious good manners. Almost over-the-top, in fact. Did I think, Damn! This means those two guys over there buying coffee and pastries as big as their…
