*grumble*

[ratcreature]

I'm really not that picky about British vs. American English in Harry Potter fanfic (a lot of the time I don't even notice, it's not like I could always tell for sure which words belong to which variety), but right now I'm reading a story that I would enjoy quite a lot if Harry wasn't addressing his female teachers as "Ma'am" all the time, which to me sounds really American, and I don't recall it being used in the books at all. I don't have copies of the books at hand (I just borrowed them from my sister when I read them), so I could be wrong, but I don't think so. "Ma'am" to address teachers and such is American, right?

Comments

[caia-comica.livejournal.com]

Well, in all my time as a student in American public schools, I've never seen this usage, although I can't say it doesn't exist *anywhere* over here. The usual way of addressing a female teacher where I come from would be as Mrs. (or sometimes Miss or Ms.) Smith (or whatever her last name is).

My *guess* would be that it's a consequence of someone trying way too hard to sound "British" and winding up with something that, I think, would be pretty archaic on either side of the Atlantic.

[ratcreature]

Could be. I think I connect the "Ma'am" thing with the US because it really freaked me out that people addressed me that way when I was on vacation there. I mean, I didn't even react to it the first time it happened, because I was quite certain the freaky formal address must be meant for somebody else, like some old lady behind me or something... Certainly nobody ever called me "Ma'am" when I was in the UK.

[tazlet.livejournal.com]

I found it odd being addressed as 'Ma'dam' by veddy, veddy frafly British shop keepers when I was 28.