History Main / MaamShock

* ''Series/{{NCIS}}'': Ziva has demonstrated on multiple occasions that she dislikes being called ma'am. Even dirtbag is preferable, though it will still get your ass laid out.

* In ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess2016'', Link is annoyed to get his first "ojii-san" (courtesy of [[spoiler:Darpa]]) before he's even out of his teens.

Males will occasionally have a similar reaction to "mister." replying "[[JustForFun/ReportSiht Mister Siht]] is my ''father''." However, this often has less to do with age than with a desire to seem less formal (though of course these factors are related). [[note]]But not always. Many twenty-or-thirtysomething men find younger women attractive. The first time one calls you "sir" is just soul-crushing.[[/note]]

* ''Film/{{Mermaids}}'': Mrs. Flax seems deeply offended when the 26-year-old handyman she was flirting with called her "ma'am". This handyman would end up having a fling with Mrs. Flax's daughter Charlotte.

** Additionally, the word "madam" (the long form of "ma'am" typically used by British service staff) can be even more shocking, since it's not only much more formal than what Americans are used to but also slang for MissKitty.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': In "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E2AfterThePhantomsOfYourFormerSelf ...After the Phantoms of Your Former Self]]", Grace is stunned when her older brother addresses her as "ma'am."

* ''MangaSoprano'': Female antagonists have this reaction whenever the FMC's kids call her "[[ObaSan auntie]]". Sometimes, she tries to correct them have them calling her "sister" (onee-san) instead.

** Of course, Tom calls her "ma'am" at every opportunity for the rest of the seven years.
** And Q calls her either "Madame Capitaine" or "Kathy" depending on his mood.

* In ''Anime/ChibiMarukoChan'', a variation plays in the chapter/episode when Maru-chan meets her sister's tutor. She firsts introduces herself by explaining how she got her nickname, to which the tutor calls her Maruko-san/Ms. Maruko. She's taken aback by it.

* In Korean, the equivilant is "ajuma". As with other examples listed here, be careful when using this one.

* May come up from colloquialisms: for instance, in some parts of the United States, "ma'am" is just considered a polite way of referring to a woman you've just met, functionally equivalent to "miss"; in other areas, "ma'am" specifically refers to a [[DontCallMeSir female superior]] or someone who is notably older. So you may just be trying to be polite, but accidentally imply they seem far older than they are!

* 5 years before the start of ''LightNovel/ListenToMeGirlsIAmYourFather'', during Yuuta's first meeting with Sora, she addresses him as Ojiichan (Uncle), much to Yuuta's chagrin, since the two of them were only 5 years apart and, at that time, Yuuta's still in middle school. After quickly taking a liking to Yuuta, however, she decides to call him "Oniichan" (Big Brother) instead. Years later, when they meet again, due to a bad start, Sora begins calling Yuuta Ojiichan again just to rile him up.

* ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesFor300YearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'':
** Azusa spends a few minutes experiencing ColorFailure, and a few more expressing heavy denial, after hearing Falfa call her "mama" and clarify that she seriously means that Azusa is her and Shalsha's mother since she has no memory of bearing children—or even having romantic relationships—for two whole lives, and it makes her feel really old. It takes a while after learning both this and the fact they were "born" from her constant slime killing to accept her status as a mother.
** In Beelzebub's spinoff, Beelzebub reacts poorly to being called "ma'am".
--->'''Vania:''' "Mornin', ma'am!"\\
'''Beelzebub:''' "Vania, every time you say that to me, the hatred toward you within me grows. I hope you are prepared for the consequences..."

* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsT'': Sagiri Sakurai really does not like being called an 'old woman' by a 10-year-old boy, which caused her to have a meltdown mentioning that she got co-workers with children in elementary school-age [[ChristmasCake while she hasn't even married.]] She's fine being called 'ma'am' by Rami, though, as it was meant to show senior-junior working relationship (She's called 'senpai' in Japanese rather than 'oba-san').

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'''s Faruzan is an inversion. Referring to her as "Madam" is recommended to Akademiya students seeking her help. Conversely, expressing surprise at her [[OlderThanTheyLook youthful appearance]] will [[BerserkButton earn you a fierce lecture]].

** Giles addresses Ms. Calendar; she breezily replies [[TheyCallMeMisterTibbs "Please, call me Jenny - Ms. Calendar's my father."]] -- parodied/subverted/somethinged.

* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'' had an episode about Paige being insulted by a student who called her Ma'am.

* [[Literature/KingOfKingsGaogaigarVSBetterman Mamoru Amani]] gets some LaserGuidedKarma in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars30'' when a mission has him meeting [[Anime/BravePoliceJDecker Yuuta Tomonaga]], Yuuta is every bit was sweet and innocent as Mamoru was [[Anime/KingOfBravesGaoGaiGar when he was that age]](see the Anime section). History repeats.