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And I was only 6 years older so it wasn't like I was old enough to be her dad
Age is relative....but it's more a subservient thing...not just age. Boyfriend and girlfriend are equal....or at least they should be...neither partner should seek to put themselves either above or below the other....
As long as somebody is speaking nicely to me, I couldn't care less how I'm addressed. If I hear sir or ma'am, it's because the person calling doesn't know the name of the person they are speaking to, and it sounds a heck of a lot better than "hey you". It certainly isn't anything to get in a tizzy over.
In the south, those terms are considered respectful. Once you get up into the northern states, they can be considered insulting. My daughter said, "Yes ma'am" during role call on the first day of school in WA, and her teacher about had a fit. Here it's more of a sarcastic thing, "Yes, MA'AM," in a sassy tone. It isn't considered polite here, although it depends on who is saying it, and why.
We lived in NC for 15 years, and I deeply miss the manners of the south! I have noticed my kids don't say please anymore when making a request. And don't even get me started on little kids addressing adults by their first names. Cultural differences.
When I was in the Army many years ago and still wet behind the ears I answered a sergeant with "yes sir!". He flew into a rage and berated me by saying "don't you ever call me sir, I work for a living." Since living in the south it seems like everybody calls other folks sir or mam. It's just a polite way of showing respect. Visiting my son up north showed an entirely different side of communication. A police officer said "hey bub, you can't park that piece of crap there" as I sat waiting for a parking spot to open up. Guess it's a territorial thing.
I particularly dont care if im called Ma'am, Sir, she, he, or whatever but i do tend to lean towards preferring the female pronouns.
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