do kids say yes ma'am and yes sir ??

Parent Cafe
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<p>At lunch today another customer called after the server, “Excuse me, ma’am” and I had to laugh. Then I had to explain to my husband why this was amusing. By the way, the server was younger than the diner.</p>

<p>We are in southern California, not the north, but I have to agree that sir and ma’am are used almost exclusively with strangers here. As in, “Sir, did you drop that?” or the example above. I have never been ma’amed in my private life.</p>

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<p>I actually think that explains a lot of the distinction. In that circumstance, saying “excuse me, ma’am” is just using ma’am as a term that sounds nicer than “hey you” when you’re asking for the check. So therefore using it with your mother doesn’t feel like “wow, I just showed her some amazing level of respect.”</p>