Sir! No, Ma'am!

Can anyone give me a justification why Americans must use ma'am and sir in order to be polite?

It makes no sense other than a marker of gender to use them. Roughly half the population is or will eventually become a sir while the other half is or will eventually become a ma'am.

I quickly looked up the etymology today after I began to idly wonder at their continued use. Sir, as we all know, used to be reserved for knights or baronetes (basically non-peerage ranks), while ma'am is short for madam, or madame, and it meant 'my lady' (ma.. dame). Other info gleaned is that ma'am is acceptably used when speaking to the Queen of Britain after the first 'Your Majesty' has fallen from the lips. Ma'am (marhm in the UK. Rhymes with 'arm) is also what you call female police officers, et al. in the UK.

OK. all that makes sense.. but again.. back to the 50/50 crap. There's absolutely no reason to call ma'am or sir as a sign of respect.. because absolutely everyone is either a ma'am or a sir (except for us Pats, but never mind, sake of discussion and all that). The fact is that any given Sir or Ma'am can be as pure of heart as Tinkerbell or as rotten to the bone as Dr. Mengele or Dick Cheney on a good night. So, the use of the titles for a term of respect is non-existant.

When I call you sir I'm basically celebrating your male-ness and squeezing your maaanly bicep. When I call you ma'am I'm basically saying 'hey woman.' while tugging my forelock and acting all meek...which, if your a decent type.. you would never require of me anyway.

If I respect you and you respect me, it wil be noticeable with or without the sir or ma'am. The sales clerk say sir in such a nasty way as to leave you with no doubt that no respect is intended. That same clerk can tend to all your needs and focus loving attention upon you without ever having to acknowledge your feminity.

But, whatever. What do I know? Maybe someone can tell me another reason they are used besides mindless tradition that slights gender ambigiuous individuals and firmly entrenches us further into the bondage of our genitals?