We always say in the South that good manners are a kind of passport. If you have good manners, you can go everywhere and people are glad to have you around. In this spirit, I grew up saying “Please” and “Thank you” and “Yes, ma’am” and “No, sir.” It actually took a long time to drum that “ma’am” habit out of me. I had to live in California for at least fifteen years before I stopped calling women even five years older than me “ma’am.”
Yes Ma’am! Me too!
