Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Terms of Endearment

I'm not a honey person. Not honey as in the sticky sweet stuff that oozes from beehives, but honey as in, "Honey, could you go get rid of the flopping, half-dead bat that Otty is barking at on the porch?"

Sadly, I HAVE uttered those words, just not with the "honey" tacked on. Because that's not a term of endearment I use. Instead, I'm more likely to call both husband and baby alike "Lovey." I don't know why, since my parents were "Sweetheart" users.

Which brings us to today's Audience Participation Day topic. WHEEE!! How do you refer to the loved ones in your life? Dear? Babe? Sweetie? Or do you just skip the terms of endearment altogether?

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Husband = Love
Kids = Lovebugs (also "Boog" and "Munch" but those take some explaining)

Tami Bami Wami said...

Occasionally i'll call my fake husband honey. I'm a bit of a traditionalist in that way.

Anonymous said...

Bunky. Beth

word verification 'hounnym'

term of endearment

Anonymous said...

We use Skattie (pronounced Scut-tee not S-KAT...). It roughly translates from Afrikaans to 'treasure' but a diminutive form. So 'Little Treasure'. Awfully cute isn't it? :)

Kay said...

Sweetie or Hon for almost anyone; (yeah, I'm one of those old ladies who calls everyone "hon" lol)

Babe for dh;

Baby/Sweetie/Sweetheart for kids/grands

Girlfriend for girl friends, of course lol

Anonymous said...

Dear. Quite simply "Dear" to all. And, I am "Dear" back. Unfortunately, it can also be said with sarcasm.

Mary in MN

Susan said...

I call my children and all children, for that matter, "Dove." The Spouse? I just don't call him.

Chiot's Run said...

MMMM, this is a good one. I mostly utter: Babe, or Sweetie, sometimes honey bunches of oats or even the occational Mr Chiots.

And of course we have names for the pets, the cats are: Softies or Buddies and the dog is Brownie or Cinderlucy.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Drew @ How To Cook Like Your Grandmother said...

I'm partial to "Darling, light of my life."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2hJPEZA-f8



Word verification: asminell -- what Nell's father says when someone asks her name

Anonymous said...

I think "Lovey" is sweet.

Brad & I call each other "Baby." This has caused some confusion since Sadie was born, because we also call her "Baby" (as well as sweetheart, sadie-bug, sade-a-roo, sweetie-bunny, pumpkin, pigeon, pidge, pidgie, OMG THE LIST GOES ON).

Anonymous said...

That's funny ...I use honey bunches of oats , too. Beth

Anonymous said...

My boyfriend never had nicknames or had terms of endearment used towards him before he made the mistake of dating me. Since then I have made it my personal goal to use as many terms of endearment as humanly possible and to use them loudly in inappropriate situations.

Because I'm a terrible horrible person. Recently I called him "Sex Kitty" in front of his mother. It was pretty darn near awesome. Unfortunately he has begun to retaliate...

Judi at Beauty and Bread said...

Sweetie.

jean said...

Does calling my husband Mr. Crankypants count?

Just Me said...

Depends. I call all of them by whatever term of endearment pops into my head. Except sometimes, my husband and I jokingly call each other something revoltingly lovey-dovey sweet, that we would never actual utter seriously.

One of my favorites I have been called was by my ex's (2 of my 3 childrens' father) grandmother. She called all her kids and grandkids "Hijo" or "Hija", and the first time she called me "Hija" was the first time I felt like part of the family, and even after her grandson and I split up, she still called me that because she still considered me family.

But like Kay, I call everyone hon or sweetie.

the inadvertent farmer said...

Darlin'

Anonymous said...

Babe for about everyone...even strangers. But I do use sweetie or baby for my boyfriend...

Moi

FinnyKnits said...

Well, Bubba is "Bubba" because his name isn't "Bubba", so that is his pet name, I guess. Calling him his actual name is a toughy for me after 10 years.

Other than that - girlfriends are, "Love" or "Doll". Dude friends are usually just, "Dude" or "Man" because they don't care and I ran out of creativity with "Bubba" I guess.

Daisy said...

We're "dear" to each other.
And that Cubby - wow! What are you feeding him? No, never mind. I know he's getting nothing but the best!!

sweetbird said...

We're "Honey" users in this household. We have separate pet names for each other, but we typically fall back on Honey. I have no idea why, neither of our parents ever really used it, but it works for us.

Anonymous said...

Love, Sweetie. I don't like Honey, either...my husband uses it from time to time, but I've noticed he ONLY uses it when he's irritated with me. So of course, now I like it even less!

Phoo-D said...

I'm afraid I fall squarely into the "honey" camp. A "babe" is thrown in now and then with the occasional truncation to "beb" uttered in a SNL "A-hole" sketch accent, irony intended.