Quote Originally Posted by Tuckervill View Post
I've had long conversations with certain Californians of my acquaintance who insist that ma'am is a term of insult no matter who uses it and when.

I just keep using ma'am and usually it is preceded by a brisk "thank you.."

Karen
Oddly enough, I grew up in Calif and moved 5-6 years ago to WA. Maybe that could explain a lot? There is a lot of regional dialect/colloquialisms/oddities. I think ma'am means old though I have to admit that there's a guy at work from the south who says it and it sounds kind of, er, cute. He's military and (as I said from the south) so I think it's a compliment