'All right love..'

[cornsilx]

don't know whether to put this here but it's bugging me. People who use 'love' to refer to women when they disagree with them. 'All right love...' kind of thing. Usually men but sometimes women do this as well.

Guilty as charged!

I love people calling me love. Takes the sting out of things I think!

Never done this.

It's the same as 'Look here, pal' when you're about to disagree with a man. It softens a warning I think, sort of 'I'm not pleased with you, but let's not fall out over this'.

"Is is any better than 'OK dear'? Because if it is I am also guilty"

Same here. It's great when someone is being particularly annoying to just be able to just say "yes dear".

If I lived in West Scotland I'd be calling people "wee hen" all of the time. Including the Clydeside welders.

wee hen sounds quite sweet actually

DP calls me 'love'

I say "DP"
He says "Yes, love"

I like it.

But I don't refer to any other female as love, dear, hen - anything actually.

In fact if I use anything at all it's mate!

I don't have a real objection to it, except when it is used to patronise, which it sometimes definitely is

Around here people call you love all the time, even when they're agreeing with you.

If the person saying it is doing it affectionately its okay.

If they do it in that sexist Monkfish 'Oi, love, put yer knickers on and make me a cup of tea' way, definitely not okay.

I've just been thinking about this, too much time on my hands, and I've just realised that, although it's common usage around here, I don't say it and never have.

I agree it's annoying when it's used in a patronising way though.

Hate being called "pet"
Hate hearing young males referred to as "son" when its obvious you are not his parents
Hate DH calling me "mate"

Love being called "love"

it's definitely the sexist monkfish way that I object to

calm down luv

When complaining about driving, I refer to all other drivers as 'love' regardless of their gender.

"Cheer up love, it might never happen", said when I just have my normal face on, walking down the street, and some twat feels free to comment - I hate that. And someone once said it to me when something bad had happened. Readers, I swore at him.

Men don't tend to patronise me as much these days. There's something to be said for being over 40

Depends who says it and in what context.

MIL calls me "dear" and I find it quite sweet, but I have been called "love/lovey" in a patronising way before and it has made me want to lamp them.

When said in a certain way, it implies that you are about 12.

It's not as bad as "petal" though......

I use love or lovie as a term of affection toward women and children, but never in a derogatory way.

If I want to be a derogatory I call them a fuckwit.

HTH

My DH calls everyone "darlin""

From the hairdresser, to little old ladies, checkout girls and even if someone cuts him up on the road - "Are you sure darlin'?"

Bit of a cockerneee thing I think