Sir/Ma'am?

blackwing1 - good for you. You will make a fine impression, I'm sure.
Don't worry about being from 'causal' California. If you can think about it and practice it - you will make a huge impression with Sir/Ma'am because they will know you are making the effort.

I live on the east coast and no one says Sir/Ma'am.
Most women areare insulted when addressed as "Ma'am". When I am out with my daughter, it amazes me how easily she slips into "Sir/Ma'am".
She had a roommate from Ga and the first time I met her I introduced myself - by my first name. She politely responded "Nice to meet you, Ma'am".
I said, "Honey, I am not military, you don't have to call me Ma'am"
Her reply, "Yes, Ma'am". LOL
 
Corrollary topic: Not "Yeah," but "Yes"

The "Sir and Ma'am" will come easier for most than burying the word "Yeah," in favor of "Yes."

I had a Battery First Sergeant who was absolute death on that "non-word." He would even make life miserable for Junior Officers who responded with "Yeah." I remember my poor Butter Bar Platoon leader who answered a question from another LT with a "Yeah" within ear shot of Top.

Hoooo boy. I could only make out every few words of the Junior Officer's resulting counseling session, but the words I heard from the other side of the motor pool were "lazy" .... "disrepectful" .... "condescending" ... and "beneath an officer and a gentleman." All delivered with the utmost of professional courtesy and decorum. Gotta' love Senior NCOs. Of course, I was raised by one, so I have to say that. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I recommend expunging "yeah' from your vocabulary as well.
 
Additional speaking issues.

Excellent advice Cpt. I have to say that I do a lot of interviews. And I've purposely told the person being interviewed that besides "Yeah", I don't want to here a thousand: ummm, like, ya know, and other things. Personally, I tell them that just to freak them out and see if they'll panic. It's fun. Also, to see who naturally can speak properly. I actually did a mock interview with an individual who was applying for a very LARGE and prestigious scholarship. This was quite a few years back. He didn't realize what he was saying, but he DROPPED the "F"-Bomb word "3 times" in the interview. It had become so much a part of his language that he just automatically used it. I busted his butt and made him go home and explain to his parents my "problem". He came back a few days later. PROFESSIONAL, COURTEOUS, SINCERE, Perfect vocabulary, diction, enunciation, and pronunciation. He did get the scholarship.

Point is: If you have an interview, speech, presentation, etc... coming up, get a friend or family member to rehearse it with you. Many times, your language is so casual that you don't even hear yourself speaking. The "F" bomb, yea, like, whatever, dude, ummm, etc... slip out and you never even realize it. You need to. I have turned down a lot of people for jobs and have given negative opinions of interviewees to boards because of language they probably didn't even know they were saying. best of luck. mike...
 
Yes!! Say Yes!!

also do NOT say "Fing" or "Freaking"; don't say "that sucks" or any variation thereof. I used to say, don't say anything you would not be able to say on TV but sadly, can't say that any more.
Don't say anything you would not say in a house of worship.
 
You aren't alone.

I'm from California too and I use Sir/Ma'am or Mr/Mrs. Smith.

While it is something good to do around the country, I do think you will start to impress people with your respect. In California, people take notice of young people being respectful. Very few times have people asked me to stop. Instead most, compliment me and more importantly my parents. :thumb:
 
If it isn't now, Sir/Ma'am will become second nature to you. Trust me.

Sadly, so will other terms and phrases you might prefer to not have creep into your speech. For me, it was "y'all." With the high proportion of service members from the South, you will likely spend a lot of time in the close company of a few Southerners. After my first semester at West Point with a roomate from Alabama, I was y'all-ing left and right; I have ever since. You can imagine what they thought the first time I went home on leave to Wisconsin, where I grew up!

By the way, Sir/Ma'am generally is well received by the parents of young ladies you might wish to date, so long as it doesn't sound fake. [Think Eddie Haskell]
 
I was born in Maine, raised in Minnesota, to parents from Maine and Minnesota (both non-military background). As such, I have a very, very Midwestern/Northeastern way of speaking. There is certainly an aspect of regionalism to the usage of 'Sir' and 'Ma'am'-even the most courteous/respectful of my fellow Midwesterners will rarely use the term. Respect here is shown by the tone of voice and the words that are said, or 'Mr.' or 'Mrs.' where appropriate. The whole 'actions speak louder than words' thing applies here in civilian life-I call my father 'Dad' and my mother 'Mom'. I'm hypothesizing that the linguistic difference has its roots in colonial differences between the New England colonies and the Chesapeake Bay colonies-the North was more democratic, whereas the South was more aristocratic, hence the common 'Mr.' and 'Mrs.' in the North as opposed to the (now abbreviated) 'Sir' and 'Madam' prevalent in the South (just took the APUSH exam, so I'm still thinking in terms of historical origin and all of that).
'Sir/Ma'am' has an irreplacable spot in the military lexicon as a part of the command hierarchy-a hierarchy that is indisputably necessary. However, as far as civilian life goes, it's almost entirely absent from the Midwestern lexicon, yet I'd venture to guess that just as much respect is present here-it just takes different forms that it does in the South.
 
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