＂a polite way of addressing a woman＂

Speak to, or greet.

According to my dear friend, a Southern belle, the following forms are permissible:

Good morning ma'am, and may I say you look lovely?

Good afternoon ma'am, and may I say you look lovely?

Good evening ma'am, and may I buy you a beer.

Hi,

But outside the South, I thought that a woman was usually dismayed when she first got ma'amed, seeing it as a sign of looking older?

Best wishes, Clive

My other half is from a culture where to be polite they all call me 'madam' and I HATE it as it makes me feel about 90 years old.

In the UK, ma'am is what you call the Queen

"A polite way of addressing a woman"

To speak to: addressed me in low tones.

To direct (a spoken or written message) to the attention of: address a protest to the faculty senate.

To deal with: addressed the issue of absenteeism

to direct one's attention to (a problem or an issue)

to speak or write to



So b

"Address" means to say a name or title in greeting (verbal or written).

For example, a lady named Mrs. Helen Jones could be addressed in the following ways:
Mrs. Jones, Ms. Jones, Mrs. Helen Jones, Helen, Madam Jones, Miss Helen, Auntie Helen, etc.
The proper form of address would depend on the relationship between Mrs. Jones and the speaker (or writer) as well as the formalit

In this sentence, "address" means how you would refer to or gain a woman's attention when you don't know her name. For instance, in a restaurant it used to be common to say, "Miss". Today, that is not considered acceptable and it is better to say, "excuse me".

when talking to a woman politely.