Ma'am Versus Ms.

I grew up in the Midwest, where the polite way of addressing an adult female is 'ma'am.' Is there any female out there who likes to be called ma'am? No one I know. So when I moved to the south where most women are addressed as Ms.Insert First Name. I took to it like a misguided homing pigeon. To me its a much warmer form of address than ma'am.  When talking to other women and friends I almost always address them as Ms. Whomever. A couple of weeks ago, I was told by two different women that they hated being addressed as Ms.......fill in the blank. It makes them feel a hundred years old. Really? Ma'am makes me feel a hundred. I wonder if its a regional thing. What polite form of address do you hate?