Politeness Protocol

I met a lady today and when she found out I was from Texas, she said, "Oh, do you say 'mum'?" I was a bit confused, I certainly don't say "mum"...I call my mother "mom." I asked what she meant, and she replied that she know another girl from Texas in Ireland who would always say "Yes, mum" or "No, mum."
Ahhh, the lady I was talking to meant "Ma'am," she just wasn't able to remember or pronounce it correctly!
Anyhow, she continued to explain how she thought it was so strange that this girl would say something like that, to have this habit of putting that word/title at the end of yes, no, or sometimes thank you.

How interesting--this a mandatory protocol for politeness in the South of the US caused a bewildered and confused reaction from the Irish. (Actually, I've encountered this startled reaction to such politeness in the north of the US as well.) I didn't bother to tell her how my parents trained me to always say "Yes Ma'am, yes Sir," and that whenever I didn't I was made to write 100 times on a piece of paper "I will say Yes Ma'am" or whatever the appropriate statement was. (I even found some of those papers a few months back when I was cleaning out boxes as I prepared to moved to Dublin!) Once the writing discipline lost its effectiveness, I was made to pay a few cents in a jar every time I neglected to say "ma'am" or "sir." Then my parents decided to try positive reinforcement and I was given a few cents out of the jar each time I remembered.

I wonder what a parallel politeness protocol for kids might exist here in Ireland...?