Man I get really sick of this trope. “Ma’am” is a term of respect for literally any woman who looks old enough to be married or have children. That means basically anyone who doesn’t look like an actual child. Calling a grown woman “miss” would basically be infantilizing.
Semantic change (also semantic shift, semantic progression, semantic development, or semantic drift)
is a form of language change regarding the evolution of word usage—usually to the point that the
modern meaning is radically different from the original usage.
Man I get really sick of this trope. “Ma’am” is a term of respect for literally any woman who looks old enough to be married or have children. That means basically anyone who doesn’t look like an actual child. Calling a grown woman “miss” would basically be infantilizing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change
Semantic change (also semantic shift, semantic progression, semantic development, or semantic drift)
is a form of language change regarding the evolution of word usage—usually to the point that the
modern meaning is radically different from the original usage.