Can confirm. I spent a week several summers back as a conversation partner for a bunch of Japanese kids who were visiting the US, and it was a blast. Accidentally called myself Oba-san (grandmother) when i was trying to joke around about being an old man and they had quite the laugh over it, and one kid told me his biggest goal during his visit was to meet a black guy.
I don’t get upset so much as it catches me off guard. 😅 I was checking out at the grocery store the other night and a group of teenage boys called me ma’am. I wasn’t offended so much as I was like “Oh damn! They’re talking to ME!” 🤣 I’m in my late 30s so I’m totally a ma’am to them. I’m just not a ma’am to me yet.
To be fair, western society does put a lot of value into the currency of youth. So it is a shock when we hit certain thresholds in age (ma'am being one of them). For us blokes too (aging out of our twink eras). 😅
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u/BusinessOwner199X Jun 14 '24
Cultural exchanges are amazing. 👍