SHOULD WE STOP USING ’SIR’ & ’MA’AM’?

An article written by Anna Lee Beyer is encouraging parents to stop teaching your kids to say ‘Sir’ and ‘Ma’am.’ Here are her reasons:
– It often offends people who feel young but associate the word with age.
– “Ma’am” is not intrinsically age-based, but it is generally used with older women and can be offensive. In addition, calling older women “sweetie,” “dear” and “honey” is a form of gendered ageism.
– It’s a throwback to requiring people of color to say “sir” and “ma’am” to the white people they served.
– It comes with tremendous risk of misgendering trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people.
– Kids are confused by the special rules for some people based on their age, gender, or geography.
A good alternative would be to teach kids to to say, “yes” or “no” followed by “Mr.” or ” Ms.”
* Such as “Yes, Mr. Butthead.“
* Should we tell Anna that “Mr.” and “Ms.” have all the same problems as “sir” and “ma’am,” or just pretend she makes sense?
* I like to be addressed with the gender-neutral “Your Highness.”
* What works best with, “You want fries with that?“
* Go with “Chief“: “You got it, Chief!“ “Understood, Chief!“ “Sorry about that, Chief!“ It works for everything.
* You know where this’ll work great? In the army.
* PHONE TOPIC: Should we give up “sir” and “ma’am”?