Avoiding Social Bloopers - Sir & Ma'am/Mam are respectful add ons to greetings, especially when interacting with strangers. * When you are dealing with ladies both young and old it avoids many social pitfalls of a most modern nature. A woman can be a Miss, a Mrs., or a Ms., and could be insulted if you should call her by the wrong one. Women can have hyphenated names, they can change their names when they marry again, (or six times again as did Liz Taylor.) Many of Liz's marriages were when she was relatively youthful, and during an age where social pitfalls could really give you a blush.