You're viewing a single thread.
I don't like ma'am, but mostly because somewhere along the line it stopped being miss (unless I'm trying to buy something, and then it's often still miss). Ma'am is a reminder that I'm old :P
So sorry for the dumb question, but is ma'am tied to age? I've always used it on trips because I was taught in school that ma'am is correct formal English 😅
Basically, ma'am and miss are used for women in general, but miss is never used to mean "older woman" and ma'am is never used to mean "young woman"
Ok thank you :D
Is one better to use in a business context? Or is there something more gender neutral that sounds natural?
I think different regions have their own customs, since there isn't really any universal standard for this sort of thing. From what I've seen living in New England, most people don't use the honorifics at all and just refer to people by name or as "you". The only time I get called "sir" or "ma'am" is by older people working in retail (and half the time they get it wrong, which never feels good)
I work retail in a state in New England. My experiences have been getting sirred (and occasionally ma'amed when I am turned away, which is better than nothing) by customers asking for directions all the time. Constantly, and not just by older folk. Maybe it's a cognitive bias that I'm not recognizing, and my area is more like you described and I've just been unlucky, but I hate it so much either way.
I also don't go out much, so I might be biased lol