Do you mind male strangers calling you “love” or “darling”?

[Buzyizzy217]

Does it irritate you when complete male strangers call you by a term of endearment, like “love” or “darling”?
To answer the obvious question, yes, it does me and I tell them not to do it. Just curious.

Nope....if someone calls me love I respond in kind....so call them sweetheart or lovely 😉

I don’t like it, but I’ve had minimal contact with men that say those things thankfully. They may be intelligent, but they sound thick.

I've not RTFT and I'm aware that eleventy milion people will be saying that it's great, they love it, that they 'couldn't get worked up about it', but I detest it. The only time I don't mind is when I've seen a guy referring to everyone in the queue ahead of me as 'right my lover, what'll it be' (west coast England). Otherwise, hate it.

True enough.

Yes, this. I don't particularly like it, though.

I love it.

Not at all. I’m in quite a senior position at work but quite like it when clients have called me “duck”, “hen”, “love” etc as I think it shows a level of trust and a relationship that has been built (in very difficult circumstances given the job)

Wakefield? 😂. When I moved up there I was very amused by it

The person who did my maternity cover, brought up, like me, in Yorkshire, took exception to being called love by one of the security team. I did think, but didn't say, 'get a life'. I have never had a problem with it unless it's obviously patronising eg 'Calm down, dear' David Cameron.

I don't like anyone calling me love or darling.

I don’t like anyone of any gender, whether I know them or not, calling me love, dear, darling or hun. I find it patronising, although I don’t think most people mean to be patronising, so I try to remember that.

No problem

Context dependent obviously, but generally no, I don’t mind at all. Also, like a pp said, it often makes me feel safe in a man’s company for some reason that I can’t explain. I’m from the south but I lived in the Leeds area for a number of years. I often took my shoes to a local shoe mender who always called me “petal” which made me feel safe and comfortable in his company plus it was really endearing.

Regional bias maybe?

Not in the slightest

I don’t like it because people tend to address women like this and not men. Was very annoyed at being called ‘my lover’ by the GP’s receptionist about ten times during one call - patronising and rude. I am certainly
not her lover!

I don’t like anyone calling me love and darling

I like it tbh, from both men and women, just feels friendly and it’s a common thing where I live, obviously if it’s someone being patronising in a horrible tone, not nice. But 99% of times I hear it, it’s a friendly tone and just people being nice

It really doesn't bother me unless there's some kind of subtext like he's being weird. In the majority of cases, it's just really nice and I can't judge because I use endearments to strangers too.

Absolutely. That’s putting it very generously.

I like it when it’s a nice grandad type of man. Not from my own age or younger.

It depends - I look at the intention behind it. I try not to take offence when none is meant to me personally. Some people don’t know any better and it’s a kindness to let it slide.

I have South African customers who call me 'my dear' in correspondence, that took a bit of getting used to!

I’d prefer not to be called either.

If it’s said in a patronising tone I call them love/darling back.

I don’t mind. Far better than them calling me bitch or just grunting at me nastily. They’re just friendly platitudes.