Addressing people.

Steve

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Why is that? Does it seem not genuine to you?

Personally , I hate "bro" and "dude".
Might be a little of that. Hard to make it sound sincere.

Bro and dude are very informal. I'm not a huge fan of bud or guy, either.
 

jobo

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They both work and are mostly interchangeable.

Ma'am is another written form for Madam, which is used to politely or respectfully address a woman. But actually 'Mam' is a small version of mother, whereas, "Ma'am" is a contracted version of Madam.
almost mam is a shorten version of mammy, which is a near universal word across europe and the middle east, with its roots in acient Greek, where it referes to mammary glands.
mum is what mam sounds like if you say it with an irish accent

both mum and mam are late words first recorded in the 1800s, roubd here both are used, though not interchangeably, the first person is mum, in" mum have you seen my keys" and the thid person is mam in" do you know where me mams has gone" ?

though the ma, in madam probebly has the same route
 
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jobo

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I don't know the derivation of the French possesive, but I doubt it's from a mammary reference, since it fits with the other possessives (sa, ta).
is french derived in whole ir part from greek or latin, both use the term ma for female,
 

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i never understood the dislike of the word Sir. i use it all the time. mostly at work when making an affirmative remark to my bosses boss or higher.
 

jobo

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I don't know the derivation of the French possesive, but I doubt it's from a mammary reference, since it fits with the other possessives (sa, ta).
never mind it comes from the latin for madonna, or lady , so latin not french???
 

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jobo

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I just looked it up, and only found reference to derivation from French. I wouldn't be surprised if the French had some derivation from Italian, rather than directly from Latin.

Here's one of the references: madam | Origin and meaning of madam by Online Etymology Dictionary
litraly right at the top and in the middle of the link you posted, it not like they hid it to confuse and confound your search for knolledge

from Old French ma dame, literally "my lady," from Latin mea domina

im less convinced now that it has the same route as mammy, but its still from the latin
 
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jobo

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I just looked it up, and only found reference to derivation from French. I wouldn't be surprised if the French had some derivation from Italian, rather than directly from Latin.

Here's one of the references: madam | Origin and meaning of madam by Online Etymology Dictionary
its also difficult to see how it got into old french from italian, seems as it didnt exist in circa 1000ad, ( and nethwr of course did Italy, )the languiges in the italian region at the time was, you guessed it,, (vulgar) latin and greek,

what we now call italian was the developed as the languidge if Tuscany, and wasnt the official languide to 1925, when it was forced on a largly non speaking populas by the fascists, there are still 34( native) other languges in use in the Italy including vulgur latin, which tends to get used to communicate rather than italian,

so no not from italian
 
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Gerry Seymour

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litraly right at the top and in the middle of the link you posted, it not like they hid it to confuse and confound your search for knolledge

from Old French ma dame, literally "my lady," from Latin mea domina

im less convinced now that it has the same route as mammy, but its still from the latin
Ah. I thought you were saying it came directly from Latin. Most of French is derived directly or indirectly from Latin.
 

Gerry Seymour

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its also difficult to see how it got into old french from italian, seems as it didnt exist in circa 1000ad, ( and nethwr of course did Italy, )the languiges in the italian region at the time was, you guessed it,, (vulgar) latin and greek,

what we now call italian was the developed as the languidge if Tuscany, and wasnt the official languide to 1925, when it was forced on a largly non speaking populas by the fascists, there are still 34( native) other languges in use in the Italy including vulgur latin, which tends to get used to communicate rather than italian,

so no not from italian
I wasn't clear in what I was saying. You are correct in this post.
 

Steve

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Ah. I thought you were saying it came directly from Latin. Most of French is derived directly or indirectly from Latin.
French is, after all, a romance language. Right? French, Romanian, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish... all derived from Latin. So, it would stand to reason that there is a pretty direct line from the Latin roots. France has also been a lot more protective of their language, and the Académie Française fights vehemently (if often unsuccessfully) against the tide of foreign loanwords.
 

jobo

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Next someone will say they take issue with "Good morning" :)

quite likely, its an inherently religous phrase, which will clearly annoy both of those with no faith and those of a different faith that the one being identified with, and possobly a few feminists as they are offended at just about everything

better steer clear
 

Steve

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quite likely, its an inherently religous phrase, which will clearly annoy both of those with no faith and those of a different faith that the one being identified with, and possobly a few feminists as they are offended at just about everything

better steer clear
inherently religous [sic]? That's a new one.
 

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At the school I attend we use Sir and Ma'am to address everyone. All black belts are addressed as Mr or Ms then last name. When we recite the oath in the beginning and end of class we start and end it with "Sir" as our head instructors is male, out of habit when on the occasions have a female instructor many will still say "Sir" which is always good for a chuckle. Most times the female instructor is understanding.
 

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