wow. I am amazed at the number of people who take offense at polite terminology. As kids, we also had to call my parents and all other adults "sir" or "ma'am". After 20 years in the army, I will continue to call people sir or ma'am when being polite. We must be the only society in the world where people get offended when you try to be polite.
When I was in Korea, one of the first things we learned was the polite way to address people. They weren't offended, even though it was the equivalent of our sir and ma'am (different for older married lady and young lady, but the male word was the same regardless of age)
So many things to be offended about, and people get offended when others try to be polite. I will continue to be polite, even knowing this, and if someone is offended by it, I will figure that's their problem.
vickie