aroraborealis | (no subject)

I use pet names for my children all the time. Adults...much less so.

I use pet names sort of. I have a real problem with the name server when I talk to people, I can look straight at my kids and call them by the dog's name, so a long time ago I started using "babe" or "hon" or something like that with everyone so I wouldn't get there names wrong. So it'snot like a pet name so much as a general name for everyone

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who confuses Child A, Child B, spousal unit, and the cat.

I see a lot of people put down things like "sweetie" and "honey," which somehow I didn't think of as pet names. Maybe I'm in the minority. :-) But I do often call my spouse "sweetie," "hon," "babe" and "love."

The boys I have been known to address as "buddy," "pal," "sweetie," "Mister," and "my friend." I would like to think this trend will continue if we have a daughter. :-)

I am prone to call almost anyone I am fond of "kiddo."

What he said, essentially, though I only use "kiddo" for actual children. :-) (And I use sweetheart/hon/babe/love for both partners.)

See, this is tricksy. I'd have to sit on my hands if you called me "kiddo."

IME, people have funny preferences/triggers around tearms of endearment. For example, I really like to use "baby," but have known people who did not like the connotations of the word and hated when I called them by it. So I tend to go with "babe," which seems less potentially offensive, until I can tell how "baby" will go over. "Angel" is another one I can think of that I've run into trouble with.

Now, for me, there's a funny separation about this:

I like it when people close to me use pet names. In fact, because I don't tend to use them much, when others do, it means a lot to me, even if it's common for them.

And although I don't seek it out, I don't mind when strangers, say, the checkout woman at the supermarket, call me "sweetie" or some such.

But I hate, hate, hate it when someone in between those two extremes uses terms of endearment.

uh oh.

will try to keep this in mind.

You're safe :)

I think there's a difference between pet names and terms of endearment. I consider the generics, "honey," "sweets," "babe," "doll," etc. to be terms of endearment, and in general, no one I'm not intimately involved with should try to use them on me (where the intimacy can be of a friendly or romantic nature). I tend to rankle at the over-familiarity of them, otherwise.

Pet names tend to be person-specific. Terms of endearment can turn into pet names if they take on exclusive use - like, I used to call an ex of mine "snuggle bunny." I'd never used it on anyone else, nor will I use it again. It just fit him somehow. I also often think of pet names as private names. For example, my father is the only person in the world call my mother by her middle name, often even using the diminutive of it. That's his pet name for her. Beah is my pet name far more than it is my nickname, which explains 1) why I find it so warm and cute when

mrf_arch calls me by it, and 2) why I *hate* it when people I'm not intimately close to assume it's okay to call me by it.