Don't call me darling? sweetheart. Yes Dear!

[Gomendosi]

I am just gonna put it out there, I use pet names!

Okay, stop laughing, somebody may not understand, I grew up in a time when mothers and fathers still called each other sweetheart and darling and honey.

I guess it must have rubbed off on me? at least, I want everyone to believe that.
See it may be odd, but in a moment I can completely forget the name of someone I am talking to, even a loved one, I just go blank.
I make up nicknames for people all the time, never anything bad, more to associate them and to fill in if I forget their real name.


Do you use pet names for people?
Is it for my reasons as well or something else, like genuine affection?
:cute: Are you going to tell us any of them?

 

[2010Dolby]

I don't use pet names for friends or famiy. I use nick names for friends though. We have one friend that everybody calls Pookie and another one that we call Bucking. I get called by a nickname all the time too (its my username on here)

I only use actual pet names for whichever girl im dating or flirting with at the time. Sweetie, sweetheart, hunny, babe, baby, cutie. That kind of stuff lol

 

[Arashi222]

You know I tend to say Hunny, sweetie, darling to everyone. I have this weird habit of attaching the word bear to the end of thier names. So like if you name was for example Darla, it would be Darlabear and so on. Its not really that I forget their names but more that if I have a name for you or call you by it then it means I am comfortable with you. But that's not always the case...

 

[epath13]

I used pet names with my kids (still use it with my younger son), in any other cases when I used pet names I did it as a joke, I mean when I kidded around with people. But I've been called honey, sweetly, love by many people. I know it's just a habit for them, I don't really care much about it. My older son hates when someone calls him by anything but his real name, he tends to correct people all the time

 

[Kelly]

My husband calls me Smelly because it rhymes with Kelly (my name), I call him liquorice sometimes(but usually I say his full name with liquorice at the beginning...it's a little joke we have), I tend to shorten my daughter's name but haven't got a pet name for her, I don't call anybody else by pet names.

 

[tree]

I think I don't, not out loud.
It is weird to me to call any person by any sort of name, out loud.
In writing or in my head, pet names occur.

One time when my sister was little I remember her
asking my mother if the dinner guests would be bringing
their dears.

And my sister playing house with the girl next door.
"You be Honey. I be Doll."

 

[watersprite]

My son, when a toddler, had a word for his sister which is easier to say than her name so I started using it too.
It is not an inclination of mine to use pet names or appellations such as honey, sweety etc. as it seems (to me) disingenuous and smarmy.
I call my son by his name but I say it twice quickly in succession, not sure why.

 

[Vinca]

I feel decidedly awkward using pet names. I think they are sweet though.

 

[Beverly]

The list of people I talk to that have either pet names or nicknames is a bit long but here goes.

Sweetie
Pack
DJ
Spazz
Mooch
Little Bit
Rug Rat
Scalper
Twoofa
Pee Wee
DR
Caine
Hoss
Bubba
Hal
Stringer
RJ
Shrek


The only one I assigned was "Sweetie" to my husband, the rest came with the nicknames when I met them or, they were given them soon after they were born. Those are only the ones who's nickname is not a shortened version of their given name. I know several, myself included, who prefer shortened versions of their given name. I prefer Bev over Beverly.

 

[Spiller]

I never used to use pet names, just either use the persons name or tail off into an awkward forgotten-your-name kind of silence, so there's a good application for them.
4 years ago I managed to get a girlfriend and 2 extra friends, kind of a package deal and they all called people Hun, Babe, Mate, all the time and I adopted this as the 'normal' mode of reference.. after calling her Babe for 2 years it actually came to feel odd calling my GF by her actual name - I won't do that again, it felt weird.
I like having pet names for my kids - my oldest is "Lewd, crude, rude bag of pre-chewed food dude", "Lewd" for short and my youngest is "Squirt".. and maybe a prospective partner one day, though I'll be sure to use her given name at least as often

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

The only "people" I call by pet names are my cats... I call them by all sorts of pet names: darling, deary, lovely, pumpkin, precious, sweatpea, sweetie, honey, my dear. In fact I probably only call them by their real names when calling them for dinner. No way would I ever call an actual person any of these things, so awkward!

I also really hate it when strangers call be things like love, dear or duck. To the point that I won't go to the village ice cream parlour because the man who run it always calls me "my dear"

 

[tree]

The only "people" I call by pet names are my cats... I call them by all sorts of pet names: darling, deary, lovely, pumpkin, precious, sweatpea, sweetie, honey, my dear. In fact I probably only call them by their real names when calling them for dinner. No way would I ever call an actual person any of these things, so awkward!

I also really hate it when strangers call be things like love, dear or duck. To the point that I won't go to the village ice cream parlour because the man who run it always calls me "my dear"

Oh, 4 legged people.
Sure.
Rat face, wump-man, Loverboy, Tennis Ball Head,
(Sweetheart, Darling..these 2 are no longer living,
but that's what I called them when they were living.
An address of affection. Not the given name.)
Fang-boy, Fang-girl, Old Sock, Jive Sweater...

I don't mind a bank clerk calling me 'hon.'
I'd rather she did that than "ma'am."

 

[On the Inside]

No, I don't. I feel I couldn't pull it off with aplomb. I use the person's name. Even for my son. I tried to use some early on, but he always said "don't call me that, my name is...." His mother calls him and I pet names all the time, they are interchangeable, so we don't know who it is she's talking to. Generally I'm in the doghouse, so I assume she isn't talking to me when she says "Sweety, can you...."

In highschool, there was a girl who often called me sweety, darling or some such thing. It made me uncomfortable, since we were just friendly acquaintances.

 

[Warmheart]

Actually, people refer to me by pet names like Sweetie, Honey, etc. all the time. Always wondered why.

My dog Grimm's nicknames are The Doofinator, HulkSmash, Ka-BOOM, ThunderFeets, and Turbo-Butt.

This is us. (Maybe I deserve some of Grimm's nicknames!)

 

[Kirsty]

My friend who is turning into I think a close friend has started calling me 'sweety' by text now and again. I love it as it make me feel very warm and cared for. She's about three years older than me. I would feel awkward calling her a pet name back, but I do care about her very much. It shows by giving long hugs, going out for coffee and giving presents on special occasions. I said I'll always be there for her if she needs me and she said the same thing to me.

I often call cats and dogs 'sweety' when I see one. I feel more comfortable calling them 'sweety.'

 

[Crossbreed]

I use/used pet names for my wife and kids, but it feels weird in any other context (kind of like hugging).

 

[Rich Gray]

• My wife is “Beautiful”
• My oldest is “Little Big Head” . . . she had a huge head as a toddler
• My youngest is “Candle that Lights My World” . . . her Netflix account icon is a girl, but she thinks it is a candle
• My dog is "Lieutenant Barkley"

 

[Judge]

Pet names? Sure, but only for pets. "Mook, Mookie, Mookhound, Muquero, Precious, Lil Puddler, Peewee, Hoover, The Uslurper and Licker-Dawg....yeah I had lots of names for my littlest friend.

But people? Hmmm. Well, let's just say I take them better from a peer than I would from someone less than half my age. If that happens I'm liable to respond in kind, but using slang terms they aren't likely familiar with that usually sends them slinking away.

 

[Babyc]

I am just gonna put it out there, I use pet names!

Okay, stop laughing, somebody may not understand, I grew up in a time when mothers and fathers still called each other sweetheart and darling and honey.

I guess it must have rubbed off on me? at least, I want everyone to believe that.
See it may be odd, but in a moment I can completely forget the name of someone I am talking to, even a loved one, I just go blank.
I make up nicknames for people all the time, never anything bad, more to associate them and to fill in if I forget their real name.


Do you use pet names for people?
Is it for my reasons as well or something else, like genuine affection?
:cute: Are you going to tell us any of them?

That is cute but it depends on how people looked like. So that is where I get their name.

 

[Aeolienne]

Someone on an internet dating site once called me "hun" and I couldn't resist asking him how he knew I was of German descent