Darling/Babe/Hun - Genuinely interested

[SchoolRunsAreNotFun]

Genuinely interested to get other MN’s opinions on being called the words ‘darling’ or ‘babe’ etc...

I have to admit I’m definitely one to call people ‘lovely’ and my close friends ‘babe’ eg. ‘hi babe just checking in to see how you are...’
I think this stems from my mum and family. My mum will call absolutely anybody ‘darling’ including people her age/older than her.

Interestingly we’ve never been a ‘hun’ or ‘honey’ type of family. Really not sure why.

What about everyone else?

I call everyone "darling". How else are they going to know how posh I am? I'm allergic to Labradors you see, darling.

Never use babe or Hun (I do call my kids babe) absolutely no to darling, feels really old ladyish (although again I call my kids darling ) 🤷🏻‍♀️

I call my DH mofo and many other nsfw nicknames including ones with the C word. They're all affectionate and he does the same to me. I realise that's not normal.

I had an ex who called me baby which I hated and one who called me babe which isn't so bad but I don't get why we equate a word for children to a lover?!!!

For a female friend I think babe is fine as in she's obv a babe so I'll call her one but again why is it babe??

It baffles me!

Do you want to join me in this amazing opportunity [pyramid scheme] selling make up, shit yourself thin coffee, Aloe Vera, copy perfume, supplements, skincare Hun ?

^that’s the usual context for “Hun”

@ParkheadParadise ah love that. Are you Scottish/northern by any chance? I definitely think the terminology changes based on location. I’m sure ‘babe’ is a more London/southern based term of endearment. Could be wrong though?

@MistySkiesAfterRain

I have a long standing friend who uses hun and I haven't the heart to tell her that it's hon. Honestly the spelling of it winds me up.

I do use lovely, lady, babe sometimes with girlfriends.

I can see why some people don't like them so I'm judicious in my use!

I quite often use 'hon' and once someone pulled me up on it and said 'don't you mean hun' no....

Doing some work in Newcastle and enjoying being called 'Pet'.

All of those are better than the current trend of mums calling each other dude.

None of those, not even from my husband. My husband and I do use endearments but not those you have listed.

I have occasionally had 'hun' or 'babe' from a work colleague but I just try to ignore it.

We use them all here - ‘darling’, ‘poppet’, ‘pud’, ‘snuggle buggle’ (latterly for the baby )

Hun makes me feel physically sick, no idea why. Don't mind the rest really.

It all depends on who is saying it and context. There is a time and a place for such terms of endearment.

DD gets "bubba" or "bub"

I'm not a huge fan of darling, I don't know why. It just sounds so cringy when anyone calls me that. The others I really don't mind. I tend to use love more than anything, so "what's that love"or bub.

@grinbear

All of those are better than the current trend of mums calling each other dude.

Thankfully haven’t come across dude yet...

Although I can’t lie, I am prone to a ‘hi/thanks mate’ now again, mostly to men I know but also sometimes to women.

In Cornwall a few years ago older ladies calling people Lover.
"What can I get you my lover?" in a shop like a bakers.
I thought that Hun was reserved on MN for the barmy ones doing MLM.

Hun just looks silly.

I absolutely love it when it is regional. But don’t like it when it is an affectation (hon).

@Wandawide I was also going to mention “my lover” in Cornwall (or was it Devon?). I had never heard it before, and it was first said to me by a drop-dead gorgeous hunk of a man. Made me go fully weak at the knees! I was very disappointed when he said it to the woman next in the queue too

I loathe babe and Hun and it's generally used by people who don't know me well, it's jarring.

Darling I don't mind because the word sounds good.

Its a very regional thing. One side of my family call absolutely everyone "duck", men and women, friends and strangers.

I'm Northern so I'll call literally anyone Sweetheart or Love and don't mind any endearments aimed at me, so long as they're meant genuinely rather than patronisingly. It's better than insults

In 20 years of living away I've lost the habit with strangers now, although immediately I arrive back in Yorkshire for a visit I start again (much to the amusement of DP).

@SchoolRunsAreNotFun
Aye, 100% Scottish 😂

My exdp started calling me Babe after a few weeks of meeting. I told him to stop it. He has a new gf now and it's Babe this Babe that all over FB. We are in our 50s ffs! 🤣

I have silly names for the DC that I haul out every now and then. If an older person called me darling or sweetheart I don't mind. Not from a someone younger though.

All depends on context I think.

Work colleagues please don't call me sweetie/hun/doll/hen/luv/babe/darling. It implies some weird power dynamic.

Friends can get away with it but still I wince at being called "lovely" by women my age (and it's always women) that's the worst and makes me want to should "FUCK OFF IM NOT LOVELY".

Think it’s a resounding nope for Hun

@robocracker same on the C word being a term of endearment for my family. It is that word that people find appalling but it really is just because we like each other 😂 e.g. ‘you cheeky c’

We would never ever say it to a stranger or even a distant friend though. Unless someone is of course being one

I am descended from over two centuries’ worth of Geordies, and call the DC “pet” by instinct! (Despite being raised in London, lacking the appropriate accent, and then spending 40 years in Scotland)
I’m retired now, but when I was a hospital doctor I often called anxious patients (of either sex and any age) “pet” in the operating theatre. But I cannot abide “hun” or “babe”.