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

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Ma'am" is used daily here in Knoxville, even by undergraduates, exactly as Duane describes.  I had to switch over from employing "Miss" that way so that people would instantly grasp what I was saying.  Otherwise, I'd use "Miss," formally, to address any relatively young woman whose name I didn't know.

JL
Duane Campbell <dcamp at CHILITECH.NET> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Duane Campbell
Subject: Re: "Leader DeLay"??? What's up with that?
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----- Original Message -----

> 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?

I use it all the time, especially with strangers. "Excuse me, Ma'am, could
you help me?"

D

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