Wow, first thread I created has been revived!
Auld lang syne when I was born a member
Wow, first thread I created has been revived!
Auld lang syne when I was born a member
Isn't "chick" a derivative from the Spanish... "Chica"? which mean's girl?
Les Miserables,
Volume 1, Fifth Book, Chapter 3
Remember this, my friends: there are no such things as bad plants or bad men. There are only bad cultivators.
Oh yeah, another quick point of reference: calling us "chick" is usually okay, but calling us "hen" usually isn't.
__________________
"Personal note: When I was a little kid my mother told me not to stare into the sun. So once when I was six, I did. At first the brightness was overwhelming, but I had seen that before. I kept looking, forcing myself not to blink, and then the brightness began to dissolve. My pupils shrunk to pinholes and everything came into focus and for a moment I understood. The doctors didn't know if my eyes would ever heal."
-Pi
Haha, I almost always use babe as a term of endearment for some of my male friends. Now that I think of it, I don't think I have ever used a pet name for a female friend.
I think chick is etymologically related to the older expression chicken for a young girl or boy. (Chicken in old gay slang means a teenage boy)
"If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia."
- Margaret Atwood
There're Spanish speaking places where women are sometimes called "pollita" which curiously and literally means "little female chicken."
One may assume that the first person who decided to address women this way was a native English speaker adopting "chick" as a short for "chicken" and then the term was borrowed by some Spaniard, with an equivalent intention. Or one may assume what Bien suggested a few posts above. It appears difficult (if not impossible) to accurately attest the very first use of certain terms in particular contexts, and where the idea came from.
Anyway, and regardless of intention, there's the evident language link among the terms above mentioned
"Dear" was missed off the list. Or does it mean that "Dear" is universally acceptable?
I skipped several terms unintentionally, and mentioned the ones that came to mind first. I should have put more thought on the preparation of the list.
Personally, I don't think any of these terms are derogatory per se. It really depends on who's using them to what end.
That being said, I don't like being called "baby" by most men - but my father has been doing so since I was born. I can't say I actually like it, but it's impossible to get my father to stop and I do realize it's him being affectionate. I think if somebody else called me "baby" or "honey" or whatever, if I saw they were being affectionate and just couldn't quite understand what was wrong with the term, I wouldn't be angry with them. It's the intent that counts, after all.
My Father used to call me Fanny Craddock (A restaurant critic and television cook) or Fanny Adams (an 8 yr old who was brutally murdered and dismembered in 1867)
What does it all mean?
Before sunlight can shine through a window, the blinds must be raised - American Proverb
Chick is kind of annoying... I agree with Juniper about 'honey,' though I don't think I would like being called that even by my husband (if I had one).
Not on the list, but I can't STAND 'babe.' Maybe because of a person that used to call me that all the time, or maybe because it just sounds so stupid. It associates me to people that say 'dude' all the time.
"All gods are homemade, and it is we who pull their strings, and so, give them the power to pull ours." -Aldous Huxley
"Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires." -William Blake
Recently realised that "hun", "love", "darlin'" and "babe" do not make me happy. At. All.
~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
I said "Morning gorgeous" to my neighbour the other day because I knew she was feeling down.
I'm not sure it was the right thing to do though.
The English comedian /presenter Jack Dee said that in the entertainments profession people are often referred to as Lovies.
He said: "I don't mind being called Lovie but I hate people who call me Ducky. There was some guy who was always calling me Ducky."
Pause..... "He's dead now."
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
I don't like being called babe, babes or darlin'.I've been called all three by young shop assistants, so I quite understand. I suppose it's better than being called the rather more plausible grandad and old git though.
I would also object to lover, sugar and sweetie. More serious terms of abuse I'm used to.
I suppose that any habitué of pubs in England gets used to 'darlin' pretty quickly but 'dearie' seems to have bitten the dust.Originally Posted by Paulclem
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
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