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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   30571 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 22, 2025

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"Sir" is one thing, but you'd only say "Yes sir" to someone in a position of authority over you. Which, of course, cops are, but it's not just civility to a stranger. If a stranger with no authority tells me "Walk this way", and I'm inclined to do as he says, but don't want to acknowledge him as a superior, the formal thing to say is more like "Very well". "Yes sir" is what you say to a teacher or a CO.

This is wild to me: I'd say "yes sir" to the garbageman, assuming he was asking me a question where it made sense and being reasonably polite to me.

Or to someone I've actually hired to do a job for me, I'm pretty sure I actually have used it with the pest control people.

I'd use it for basically any interaction in a professional setting: if someone's working a job they deserve at least that much respect, assuming they're not being rude or disrespectful to me. I'd honestly expect both of us to be using that terminology back and forth.

you'd only say "Yes sir" to someone in a position of authority over you

I say "yes sir" to people not in a position of authority over me all the time. I even say it to people over whom I am in authority (e.g. people I hire to do work).

Never heard this. If someone I worked for told me "yes sir" I'd wonder what kind of mind games they were playing and how quickly I was about to be fired. Regional difference, maybe? Class?

At my white collar office, "yes sir"/"thanks sir" has become so overused I wouldn't be surprised if women are saying it to each other.

It's like a weird intersection of young people imitating "business speak" combined with frat dude culture combined with some actual respect, but taken to pantomime levels.

At my white collar office, "yes sir"/"thanks sir" has become so overused I wouldn't be surprised if women are saying it to each other.

Some kids occasionally say "yes sir" to me, I can't tell if they're joking or not. I keep trying to get them to use "ma'am," but they just seem confused, like they've never heard it before.

I pretty regularly use sir/ma’am with strangers, especially in commercial/business settings as a middle class American in the Midwest.

Sir and maam are the default for a formal, professional interaction. I'd rather keep the cops on that level. My boss calls me sir all the time- it's just a mark of professional respect.

Again I think there is a huge of difference between just calling someone "sir", and the specific phrase "yes sir". One is polite, the latter is subservient.

I could tell you "yes sir" in a way that's subservient, or exaggerated to absurdity, or contemptuous, purely based on tone.

I don't agree with this. If calling someone "sir" is not subservient, then saying "yes sir" is not subservient. It's simply giving an affirmative answer while showing respect.

My boss answers the phone with 'yes sir' to show he's paying attention and treating the interaction professionally.

I'm guessing you're a yankee, assuming you're American.

I'll say 'Yes sir' and 'Yes ma'am' to the janitor and maid, or anyone similar. It's basic politeness. So I'd say this is a definite regional thing.

I feel like there's no need to actually say, "Yes, sir." I'm sure you would get the same effect if you say, "Sure thing, man." The main thing is to remain calm, show whatever papers or cards you need to show, and comply with whatever the local rules are until the cop leaves.

No, they'll often insist on the "Yes, sir" or "Yes, officer". (and troopers get mad if you use "Yes, officer")

You can literally say “yes fuckface” and so long as they don’t have any provable crime to nail you with (other than the speeding ticket or whatever our hypothetical reason for being pulled over was), they can’t do shit.

The days where surly cops can kick someone’s head in for being insufficiently subservient are long gone. The smart phone/social media era put an end to that. Just ask Derek Chauvin.

You can literally say “yes fuckface” and so long as they don’t have any provable crime to nail you with (other than the speeding ticket or whatever our hypothetical reason for being pulled over was), they can’t do shit.

LOL. Believing that and acting on that is a great way to get arrested. Been there and done that. Got arrested for felony assault on a police officer.

You got arrested for felony assault for calling a cop 'fuckface'?

Not exactly, I called him a "fucking pig". But yes.

Kinda based, actually.

I'm definitely willing to believe this, but most cops just want a low drama encounter where they fill out their paperwork and go on their way. I still don't understand why calling them 'sir' is groveling.

I've never run into that, but I live in the major-metro Midwest, am white, and the most unpleasant I get with cops is woe-is-me snark.

I find that difficult to believe. Are you saying that police officers regularly demand that people call them 'sir', and will insist upon it if addressed in any other way? That doesn't sound right to me. Why have I never seen this on video despite the fact that I have spent many hours watching videos of police officers misbehaving in various ways? This seems like the kind of thing that would go viral.

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