"Leader DeLay"??? What's up with that?

[Laurence Horn]

>Don't say 'Ma'am'! Who's so rude they don't say Ma'am?
>
>dInIs

Well, lots o' New Englanders, according to Wolfson & Manes (1980)
(and I'd guess the trend has only accelerated since then).  But then
that's just what you'd expect of us, isn't it?

larry

>
>
>
>>  >I hear "Miss" generally only in restaurants, stores, etc., when one wants
>>>to get the attention of the so-addressed person.  No one would be caught
>>>dead saying "Ma'am" anymore, right?
>>
>>LOL! I not only hear it, I say it! (I also say "Sir" - both of them often
>>in the courtroom).
>>
>>Bethany
>
>
>--
>Dennis R. Preston
>University Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
>Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages
>A-740 Wells Hall
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing, MI 48824
>Phone: (517) 432-3099
>Fax: (517) 432-2736
>preston at msu.edu