I've changed, and I'm not sure that I'm happy about it.

[Shay]

Under the age of 12 is normally addressed as "Master"

I believe anyone who still lives at home or is dependent on others is still Master, though.

[Bill]

At my place of employment (and everywhere else) I am in the habit of addressing everyone as Sir or Ma'am a habit I might add that was instilled in me at a young age by my parents. I will never forget the time though when a lady customer insisted that I not call her ma'am and I tried my best to abide by her wishes but the habit kicked in and I inadvertantly addressed her as Ma'am once again. Well she turned red slammed down the shoe she was looking at and stalked out without another word! BTW if someone wants to accuse me of being "old fashion" then let them tis a habit I'll not be breakin'.

Bill

[Archangel]

I remember in elementary school, the first time we heard "ma'am" was when an American boy moved here. The teacher had a difficult time teaching him not to address her that way. At that time it was always miss ___, mrs. ___, or sister ___. Different cultures have different titles. My feeling is that "ma'am" is more common now.

[macgreggor]

when we started our family, my spouse and i had a talk about what to teach our to address their elders. it seems that in this part of wisconsin there are way too many constanats and way to few vowels in last names. now it is hard enough to learn english without THAT particular obstacle so we went with miss (first name) or mr (first name). seemed a good compromise.

just haven't ever liked a 6 year old calling an acult by their first name.

my personal quirk.

macG