Affectionate words for men

[IsItChristmas]

Do you use affectionate words when you talk to your DH? Things like sweetheart, honey, love - they sound so natural when addressed to a girl/woman but to me they just sound a bit soppy when used in relation to a man. Almost a little inappropriate. What do you say? And if you are a man, what would you like to hear as a display of affection?

Those are all gender neutral. I say darling/my love (to everyone though, not just DH/past boyfriends).

It makes me want to vomit if I hear people addressing their partners as 'honey', etc. 'Babes' is the worst of all.

I call my partner by his name, and he calls me by mine.

For men?

"Steve" usually. "Darling" occasionally.

Sweetheart is my generic term of affection - husband/children/dog then I don’t have to go through a long list of names when my brain doesn’t work. I do occasionally find myself nearly saying it to cashiers at the bank, oops!

No

I've called my boyfriends all kinds of affectionate names - standard darling-honey-angel ones, animal based ones, nicknames based on in jokes, ridiculously mushy ones, etc

I think it's fine if that's not for you and your partner, but it seems a bit weird to it's too "soppy" for men. Unless you think men should be stoic and unemotional at all times. Or indeed that their masculinity is so fragile that one casual "love-cat" or "angelface" could shatter it forever :/

"shithead" paired with a loving inflection/look can cause entertaining consternation.

Me and dp have loads.

Generally tend to go for 'babes' said in a really awful cockney accent when trying to rib him a bit.

Otherwise his name or his nickname. I knew him when I was 15 and only knew his nickname. Didnt know his name until i bumped into him 20 years later. So buried deep in my mind he will always be the nick name.

He uses the shortened version of my first name.

Mine are usually funny, silly or tongue in cheek. Sugarballs, sexbean, my little hotdog bun of love etc...the more cringe or absurd the better! Also babes. Ironically of course and usually hammed up to sound as extreme as possible...baaayubs.

shithead" paired with a loving inflection/look can cause entertaining consternation.

We do that too. Dickhead, tithead, shitface on occasion all said with laughs and affection. I get some people hate that. But it makes me laugh.

I called him a dickhead earlier cause he dropped the milk. He just laughed and said 'yeah I know' little Britain style.

I call him Noori which kind of means ‘my light’ in English, I used to call my ex Raaja (king) and I typically still do when I see him.

I call everyone 'lovely' (cos Welsh). Otherwise my terms of endearment are different with everyone.

I really miss being called 'hen' by other women in Scotland, and being called Bab in Wolverhampton.

Seem to have settled into calling each other “B” ....I guess short for babes, just kinda stuck.

I call mine babe or lovebod 😳

We use babe which, if I think about it out of context I kind of hate, but it’s just habit.

I’ll also occasionally use darling, sweetheart, lovely or ‘my love’. But very occasionally and not in public.

It’s more common that we call each other by nicknames based on our respective surnames though.

Never - I use his name. He only uses my name too. We don't really do lovey names! I'll use an insult name if he's done something stupid though and he does the same

Hubby. I know mumsnet frowns on it but it is never in public. Nothing else feels quite as natural.

Thus thread made me try to think of"manly" terms of affection. I think I'm going to go with manly.

i'm an endearment person.. love, sugar, hon, sweetheart, babe, gorgeous...

friends and lovers, all guys

I rarely use names tbh.

Awright Sexy. Usually.

Or by his surname.

Nothing in between.

I use 'hubby' actually. I kind of think it's factual and matter of fact rather than affectionate. I guess it depends on how you say it

Shithead and similar made me that's - yeah! - manly AND affectionate!

Lots of great ideas and perspectives... Mumsnet is awesome

Baby!

Sugarballs and lovebod are the best I've seen on here haha.

Definitely said shit head x usually when he's teasing me. He calls more affectionate names, sometimes not so affectionate haha.

Our worst one is bibbily... omg can't believe I just admitted that.