Yes, Sir!

A well-known joke in the UK (and maybe over here) goes "What do you call a gorilla with a short temper?" The answer, of course, is "Sir" (that is unless you've been living under a rock for a number of years. This leads us nicely on to the subject of today's post - something that i've noticed here and there over the past month, but more so of late (and plus there was plenty other stuff to talk about as well). Back home in the UK, the Northeners tend to have a reputation of being friendlier than our Southern counterparts - a fair assessment in my opinion. Much as I love London, I find the Londoners themselves to be pretty cold and distant as opposed to, say, the Mancunians who are generally warm and friendly. Since arriving here, i've heard it said that a similar divide exists here - except the other way round. It is said that this is because the Southerners are much more conservative people - they have more traditional values but are very much open and friendly (provided, perhaps, that you don't rock the boat). One of the Southern quirks that has been passed through the generations because of this history is the fact that they call everyone "Sir" or "Ma'am".

Now, as a kid, i was taught to respect my elders (which I generally did....stop laughing Dad). Through school, the teachers were 'Sir' and 'Miss' unless told otherwise (and this extended to college to a degree as well) so this is nothing overly new to me. The strange thing (for me) is that this doesn't apply to elders, or superiors but to everyone. Thus, at times i've called after someone to be greeted with a 'Yes, sir?', asked if something is correct to hear a 'Yes, sir!' in reply. I have to emphasise that this doesn't bother me - it's quite pleasant in a way - but it, perhaps, feels just plain unusual to me. What is even funnier is the multi-national composition in the lab means that we often get American-foreign language hybrid attempts of "Yes, sir!" or "Ma'am" (incidentally, this is pronounced Mam rather than Ma'am). My only hope is that this doesn't start happening to me.