Comments | grub_street: Pet names and terms of endearment

imayb1 in grub_street

Pet names and terms of endearment

Apr 04, 2007 22:41

In the interest of writing a good story, I'd like to get a general consensus regarding readers' feelings about pet names and terms of endearment. Please take the following simple poll. Thanks in advance,
( and feel free to elaborate and discuss the poll or the topic in the comments )

Comments 8

tephralynn April 5 2007, 03:50:04 UTC

I feel the need to note that even the names I checked off as "okay with" aren't blanket approval. I can deal with "babe" but "baby" irks me for instance. Likewise, "sugar" is good, "sugarcakes" is not. I guess I have a thing against referring to your lover as an infant or pastry. :)

periazhad April 5 2007, 03:54:11 UTC

I second this.

imayb1 April 5 2007, 04:25:28 UTC

Oh, I agree. I've always found 'baby' insulting.

jinsai April 5 2007, 03:58:18 UTC

I hear people use pet names quite frequently in real life, so it's not a problem to read them in fic so long as they're not over-done. I don't mind nicknames used as petnames so much, as long as they're not "cutesy." Um.. *tries to think up a good example* Well, like Eiri calling Shuichi "brat" - that's a sort of pet name. I have a character that calls his lover "rusalka" and occassionally "darling." (Or "love" as it's a word that can be translated as either.)

In terms of pet names, I think the sweeter ones are better avoided but ones like "babe" and "lover" are pretty good for common-usage. Then more romantic like "darling" are still good but should be used more sparingly and for more appropriate moments.

imayb1 April 5 2007, 04:27:04 UTC

That sounds about right to me. Moderation is very important.

kageotogi April 5 2007, 10:57:02 UTC

I tend to use pet names more mockingly, or as jokes (for example, Joan calls me "Cuddlebutt" a lot, so I call her "Snugglemuffin" or "Peach Pie" or something equally stupid). Also, most of my pet names have to do with food. Which probably isn't healthy. ^^

Pet names have their place. Really, the appropriateness of the name depends on circumstance and characterization.

imayb1 April 5 2007, 17:05:40 UTC

I think most pet names, in a general sense, are food-related. :)

I agree that pet names have their place-- even the detestable ones can work as parody or comedy, but it's nice to know what sorts of pet names are most detested. I'm glad I posted this survey. I think the results are interesting.

oliver_crisp April 27 2007, 21:52:15 UTC

I like 'babe' but not 'baby' ugh, shudders...

Anyway, I love 'love', but my favorite nicknames are weird little inside ones. For example, 'Only Nikki' as in, "This is Only Nikki.", or "What's happening, Only Nikki?"