"My bird"

[chelseafan123]

My fiancé is great, obviously. But her refers to me as his "bird" and other people in the same way, eg.

"Fred is a great guy, he really loves his bird."

I called him on this and asked him to stop doing it and he appeared baffled and asked: "Well how do you want me to refer to you then?" I said: "Well you know o call you your name, or my fiancé, why not do that?"

He thinks I'm being OTT and making something out of nothing. AIBU to be irritated by this?

I hate "bird" in that context. Next time he does it you could try skipping round the room singing tweet tweet then going outside and taking a dump on his car windscreen and telling him it's lucky. I expect he would probably stop after that.
Grr.

I hate Bird, chick etc

My dh calls me his Gertrude! I live up North so it makes a change from Our Lass which is what his mates call their wives and girlfriends

Welcome to 1991. Tell him you would prefer "the missus" or "my old lady"

YANBU, I hate terms,like this. The old ball and chain being another godawful one.
Why isn't girlfriend / wife / partner good enough?

Start calling him your lizard and see if he likes it.

I also agree with pp who've said it doesn't matter what the word is, if you don't like it, he needs to stop.

DH is Glaswegian and affectionately refers to me as his 'wee birrrrd' but it's done tongue in cheek, as neither of us are in the first flush - if he thought I didn't like it, he'd stop. I don't think he'd use it as a way of referring to other people's partners, either.

I once knew someone who was an unabashed 70s throwback - he referred to friends' wives/girlfriends as their 'lady'. It was definitely old-fashioned but respectful and quite sweet.

Go out and poop on his car. It's what birds do, isn't it?

(I am kidding)

I'm another one hating 'the wife' and had to have a word about that one. I do love 'my wife' however.

baroness perfect response

I refer to the man I'm seeing as "my fella". We're in our 40s, so boyfriend feels totally wrong, and we're not long term committed so "partner" isn't right.

Before we got married my number was saved in his phone as "Ra Burd" For any non Scots reading this it means the bird. It didn't particularly bother me as l knew he was just joking, he'd never actually introduce me as his bird. Now we are married my number is saved under "Ra Wife". Who said romance was dead?!

What about that hideous '70s phrase, "'Err indoors". Used a lot on that popular-in-the-70's "comedy", "On The Buses", where 2 dubious looking men (one obviously wearing a toupee) pulling all the "skirt".

Does he wear purple flares and listen to Pink Floyd? Is he sixty?

I'm sure I remember learning (once upon a time) that "my burd" was in common usage in Shakespeare's day, and could reference a friend or a romantic partner, as "my lover" or "my hansum" still means in Cornwall.

It's a word that seems to becoming back into fashion. I have heard several different teenage groups use the term over the last say 8 months or so.
The girls/women call their boyfriends partners as 'my fella'

I asked someone about this once and they just said ' well he is my fella, just like I'm his lass'.
Whatever suits I guess!

oh Rubbish Mantra I call my husband 'him indoors' ! I'm thinking of Arthur Daley from Minder when I do it. Maybe I should stop that, as he didn't grow up in the UK and doesn't know what I'm on about. He very sensibly sticks to calling me 'my wife' but in his own language.

It's referenced in The Streets song "Let's Push Things Forward" innit!
He's from Birmingham.

"Round 'ere we say birds, not bitches"

Delightful

Yes, I think pooping on the bonnet of his car might sort things out.
Or he could listen to you and respect you and not call you and other women terms you've let him know you find offensive.

Hate it. As well as "the wife" is this wjat he's going to call you once you're married?

DHs work mates like to refer to their own and colleagues gfs/fiancees/DWs as "the missus" or "fred's missus" etc. DH knows I hate it, and I hope refers to me by name or proper terms.

I refer to myself as posh bird when I say the posher place I was born, than to where I live, but it's in jest.
There are lots of terms of endearment like "er indoors" "The Mrs"

I'm not bothered if these words are used in an affectionate way. Different regions have their own terms for partners.
Hen, chick, bird, Auld queen, Some men use them in a derogatory way but others use them affectionately.
You can let it bother you or not. I agree though that if you hate being called any of them, then people should respect your wishes.

Cheesy, are you sure he's calling you "my Wife", and not the equivalent of 'er indoors...?

Lighten up OP. My fiancé calls me bird all the time. I call him 'sex on legs'

DH and I regularly use the word "bird". We are 50+ Londoners, though not hardcore cockney, and just use it as slang. But YANBU if you don't like it

If you don't like it, he shouldn't call you it. Doesn't matter whether it annoys anybody else- it annoys you.

As a PP said above- every time he calls you bird, respond by calling him worm. It'll soon stop being a fun wind up for him.

If you don't like it you don't like it, it's that simple.
I'm from the north & it's a term used here, doesn't bother me but I'm not you.