Always a touchy subject with women but I can believe that some New Yorkers have a problem in that direction; when the Chinese woman I mentioned moved to New York she actually had to buy her underwear from a children's store because the normal womens sizes were too big.Originally Posted by Virgil
I tried calling my wife something silly like that once and I got struck with a baseball bat across the head.
Of course it had to do with her weight.
Last edited by Emil Miller; 07-26-2009 at 05:43 PM. Reason: Typing errors
If you want to really piss me off you should call me sweety or female, especially the last one. Also honey, babe and the rest are accepted only from someone who is close. I love when he calls me "my girl" in that special voice which makes my heart melting. :-).
I am actually looking for a special name for him, the pet name nobody else called him before.
Any suggestions?
"Where love is there God is also".
Leo Tolstoy
It completely depends on who's saying it. If it's my boyfriend or a close friend whom I've known for years, that's fine. But I don't like being called by a term of affection by casual acquantances much less perfect strangers.
There are several elderly residents where I work who refer to any woman or girl who is younger as "lady" or "mija" I think it's sweet, polite, and respectful.
So generally, I'll only answer to my name, Miss, or mija (or lady if they speak limited English) especially if I'm at work.
Last edited by Stargazer86; 07-26-2009 at 04:04 PM. Reason: typo
I selected other rather than an individual one for a reason. I hate being called babe (ugh) chick (chicken for some reason i'm okay with), bird, moth, the missus, my woman... i dont mind doll because my dad calls me that, but then, i think thats the only person i'd allow call me doll.
Oh and i also hate being hollered with "ma'am". different spelling to mam obviously but every time some one says that to me in the airport, i feel like saying "do i look like your mother?"
"Come away O human child!To the waters of the wild, With a faery hand in hand, For the worlds more full of weeping than you can understand."
W.B.Yeats
"If it looks like a Dwarf and smells like a Dwarf, then it's probably a Dwarf (or a latrine wearing dungarees)"
Artemins Fowl and the Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer
my poems-please comment Forum Rules
How about Buggerlugs ?
My mother always calls me Doll, so I'm in the same boat- no one else would ever be permitted to call me that.
I'm weary with right-angles, abbreviated daylight,
Waiting for a winter to be done.
Why do I still see you in every mirrored window,
In all that I could never overcome?
If you would be so nice to explain it's meaning but it does not sound too nice after first reading.
"Where love is there God is also".
Leo Tolstoy
Whatever a guy says, he's in the wrong - that's just the way it is with broads.
It all depends on the person and the context... Doncha think?
~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
To be honest, I don't know what it means. One of the guys I used to work for often used it to describe someone he didn't like. So perhaps it isn't suitable for your purpose after all. I just like the resonance of the word.
I agree!
Although I HATE 'The Missus' UGH! I think it sounds awful.
"Oh the clever
Things I should say to you
They got stuck somewhere
Stuck between me and you"
it definitely does.
but in general, I think I'd feel pretty uncomfortable with the ones listed. I'd be okay with "darling" or "dear" or some such though. and if the person is older, I really don't mind much as long as they mean it with some degree of respect.
"Honey" is what my parents (now divorced) called each other. I could not possibly use it myself for that reason. Just the thought of it makes me cringe, it reminds me of their tense relationship with each other.
the pet names that my boyfriend and I use are entirely gender neutral and completely of our own devising. they would make no sense to anyone else, and sometimes they probably don't even make sense to us. It's probably pretty weird, but I like it.
Last edited by kratsayra; 07-27-2009 at 12:47 AM.
First of all I want to thank everybody for taking part in my first poll since I joined Lit Net. Highly appreciated!
I know of someone claiming not to have been called a madam in all her life, until it happened, and she was so pleased that she even said "Hey you're the first person to call me a madam, thank you so much"
Same cause, different effects...
If you had a name like "Prudence Goodwyfe" you wouldn't be so safe (saw it on The Simpsons, so not my deviseI picked nearly all of them. Depending on the context almost all 'pet' names for women can be derogatory and the only way to be safe is to call people by their given name. You missed 'sweetheart' and 'love' from the poll too, oh and 'bird'. Sweetheart really makes me want to puke, 'love' less so but perhaps because culturally in the area where I live 'love' is a common term used in a friendly and not demeaning way, so in my local area if someone said to me, "excuse me love... I wouldn't ever take that as offensive. Chick, in some areas is used in the same way so I guess again it rather depends on context. Bear in mind, in the same area the word 'c*ck' is used as an affectionate term for a man "..are you alright c*ck? or 'cocker', and I have known of situations where people using the term in its colloquial, friendly manner have been told by call centre staff that they'll hang up if they 'speak to them that way again', which is quite funny. Note, I can't actually write the whole word on this site without it getting ****'d out, which would make it very convoluted to talk about male chickens if I needed to
Lady I think is acceptable depending on the context. So if you were introducing people to each other you might say 'and this lady is xxx' and that would be okay. After introductions I would then expect people to use either other's names.
Apparently I missed many, including their variants, like sweetie, girlie, deary, babe, lassie and whatnot.
I would hate to be called a "c*ck" ... yuck ...
Whenever you need to refer to male chickens you can always say "male chickens"
I like them both, but I have a preference for "lass"... which is not really important here given the fact that I'm a man.
Virgil, Virgil, what were you thinking about?
Given the original connotation of the word, I wouldn't address anyone a broad. I wouldn't even call a broad a broad, if you know what I mean (the very fact of their profession is no excuse for disrespect... unless they like being addressed like that). I too dislike the way it sounds, though maybe its connotation has changed with the mingling of time.
No fully qualified gentleman pisses a lady off. That's why I thought of this poll in the first place... to know what ladies prefer and be a better gentleman.
"Moth" sounds terrible to address a lady, and "missus" and "my woman"... well I can't tell which of the three sounds worse. And about "ma'am", independently from spelling, some people tend to pronounce it without the "long a sound" involved, which makes it sound even more similar to "mam". If I were a lady I wouldn't like to be a stranger's mother either.
My ears tell me the same!
Olga and Brian, this I found for Buggerlugs, and there's a fifth meaning I dare not post here for fear of being banned. Anyhow if you feel interested here's the link: http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...erm=buggerlugs
Buggerlugs
- Grumpy person - usually older, can be attributed to any person who is being a grumpy pain in the bum.
- Affectionate term for a child
- An affectionate term for a female friend, if you're from up north!
- In British English, a term used as a polite euphemism for the stronger "bugger". Often the word is changed as the speaker realises his/her audience. Usually an exclamatory remark (as in "Oh buggerlugs!")
- - check link if you want it -
Very nice to have an internal language that only belongs to both of you.
I agree with this Max. I once had this really adorable boyfriend when I was about 28 and he referred to woman as ladies and I really thought it was sweet and respectful. He was originally from the South so maybe that is a trait in his state...Southern hospitality. I don't like the other titles above at all. I would have chosen this or Other.Originally Posted by Maximilianus
Personally, I prefer the word lady because it gives me an idea of independence from men. I dislike the word woman because I feel it has an implication that they depend on men
"It's so mysterious, the land of tears."
Chapter 7, The Little Prince ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
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