Do your parents get angry if you don’t call them sir or madam?

[Babygirl_S]

Indian elders get angry if you don’t call them “aap” and say “tum”. All hell breaks loose if you call them “tu”

All of these pronouns mean “you”

Aap: very formal and polite

tum: informal

tu: informal and used for people you know. Can be considered offensive by a snob.

Yes

No

[molonski2]

Well , I'm not sure any westerner even has a remote understanding to even answer the question , its not same as " Sir , Madam " , I was always just called " Dad " . I dont like being called " Sir " by anyone really , certainly not my children lol , but that would never happen.

But , I do know some hi- so Indians.

[Lliam]

My father wasn't a drill sergeant. My sister and I always called our parents mom and dad. When we were little we may have called them mommy and daddy.

We called our paternal grandparents grandma and grandpa. And our maternal grandparents we called nana and papa.

I never called anyone sir or madam in my life.

[molonski2]

I've used Madam many times , it was a polite way of pissing off older female clients who were not listening to what I'm saying. Remember one very well ( she purchased a display home - no meant nothing to ) was asking how to connect to the internet , now this was a little complex as some of the displays were not smart wired. As I set out the process , she just kept talking over the top of me..
I said " Madam , madam please , would you like to listen to what you need to do? Or not "

Then there is of course " The madam " this is the lady who runs the girls in a brothel , here in Thailand they call " Mumma sun " .

[Lliam]

@molonski2. Yeah, in the U. S. a madam is lady who runs a brothel. That's what people associate the word with. So that's probably why people refer to woman as ma'am instead of madam.

[molonski2]

Yes , more from the UK heritage of which Australia is still a colony , it can be a " very entitled " well preserved aristocrat.

[purplepoppy]

English doesn't have formal/informal language but many other European languages do. For example for "you" we use "chi" and ti". No one would call their parents sir or madam and it would be rare to use the term on a stranger unless you were a waiter or needed to be diplomatic.

[IslaTheWitch]

definitely "you"

[Miristheiss]

I just called them mom and dad.

I had a teacher once who made the call the adults Mr. and Miss/Mrs. and if you needed her to repeat something you weren't allowed to say "what" or "come again", you had to say "please" or "pardon".

[molonski2]

Certainly should not be saying " What " to a teacher , disrespect.

[Grond21]

Very much depends on the person. In the south in the US it's a lot more likely that the older generation will expect you to use honorifics. My dad expected it from us when we were younger, but it's not an expectation anymore. So we only do it occasionally

[Red_Arrow]

They would think I was nuts if I used those terms.

[NathanDavis]

not in my family, but certain specific, very old people... might take it personal

[wkhan_87]

I always say them tum ,, they never get angry.

[Tamera952]

Huh? …?

[DrPepper12]

Nope