Talk:Madam

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Rhyming: I wish whoever put in the proper pronunciation rhymes would cit their sources. When I met Queen Elizabeth I was instructed differently as to the pronunciation of "ma'am". 05:10, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

I find this intruiging: "Female judges of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales are titled Mrs. Justice rather than Madam Justice." Just out of curiosity, are thy referred to as 'Mrs.' as a courtesy title regardless of marital status? Quill 07:30, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Yep. Anyway, "Miss Justice X" would sound a little odd. Proteus (Talk) 10:08, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)

WINAD

WP:WINAD (including a usage guide) but no one really cares about that these days. - PhilipR 21:25, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Removed the "ma'am, yes, ma'am" line

Possibly the shortness of the word helps explain another, in a sense compensating, idiomatic but non-official practice in American English: emphatically saying Ma'am both in front and behind an obedient response in clear voice to the senior, especially during drill, e.g. 'Ma'am, yes, ma'am!'

This paragraph only makes sense if you're saying that the sentence is "compensating" "idiomatic" and "non-official". It is however, perfectly in line with proper military etiquette requiring subordinate individuals to address a superior beginning and ending each utterance with the the title of address for that person. Thus "Ma'am, yes, ma'am!" is entirely equivalent to "Sir, yes, sir" as "Ma'am" is the official title of address for a female officer, and "Sir" is the official title of address for a male officer (in the American Military).

The shortness also has nothing to do with this, as a trainee and subordinate is typically still expected to follow this formulaic address with longer titles of address, such as "First sergeant, yes, first sergeant!", "Sergeant major, yes, sergeant major!", "Drill sergeant, yes, drill sergeant!" (Drill Sergeants having a distinct title of address apart from their rank. It varies on the expectations if a drill sergeant is in fact a corporal, what his title of address would be, although it is typical to expect "Drill corporal, yes, drill corporal" to be the proper response.) --Puellanivis 19:28, 10 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ma'am, not incorrect

I propose removal of the portion of the introduction which labels ma'am as an incorrect use of the word Madam. Titles such as these have changed throughout the years, and have been accepted. Although it may be incorrect to use ma'am in certain countries, in the United States it is not so necessarily. Nicholas SL Smith 06:16, 30 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

How can ma'am be incorrect? It is merely an abbreviation with the removed letter noted by the apostrophe. 129.105.10.128 21:59, 31 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with the removal by 129.105.10.128. Nicholas SL Smith 22:14, 31 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Madam as honorific

Could anyone who knows more about this add a section about the use of "Madam" in Southeast Asian English, where it comes before the maiden name of a married woman? As in Mr Lee's wife being simultaneously Mrs Lee and Mdm Tan? This is ubiquitous in places such as Singapore and IMHO needs a section here. JREL (talk) 10:03, 23 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]