Where Do You Stand? Overusing Pet Names

February 23, 2009

Run of the mill pet names like babe, honey, or gorgeous are really sweet when they come from the love in your life, but since they are such standard terms of endearment, it's easy to use them with your friends, too.

For example, when a girlfriend of mine was dating her now-ex-boyfriend, he would always refer to her as sweetie, but he referred to her friends as sweetie too! To be honest it creeped me out a bit — if I were her I'd want that nickname to remain sacred between us — but tell me where you stand on the idea of reusing pet names with platonic friends.

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43 Comments

3 years 48 weeks

i'm currently dating this amazing guy but when i'm taxting him he uses baby at least 3 times on each text! it drives me insane!

Twisted Elegance 4 years 12 weeks

fades - that's too funny, i think my bf secretly loves it too but he'll never tell me that lol

fades the sun 4 years 12 weeks

twisted elegance - i call my bf "stinky" too! and not because he smells bad or anything either, i just think it's funny. he says he hates it but i think secretly he loves it...one of my bf's best friends calls me (and pretty much every girl he meets) "sweetheart." he'll come by to hang out with the two of us and it's, "what's up, sweetheart?" kinda took me by surprise the first time he said it, but i guess that's just his thing.

fades the sun 4 years 12 weeks

twisted elegance - i call my bf "stinky" too! and not because he smells bad or anything either, i just think it's funny. he says he hates it but i think secretly he loves it... one of my bf's best friends calls me (and pretty much every girl he meets) "sweetheart." he'll come by to hang out with the two of us and it's, "what's up, sweetheart?" kinda took me by surprise the first time he said it, but i guess that's just his thing.

Pallas Athena 4 years 13 weeks

I think the pet name you call your SO should only be used with the SO. If someone calls other people by it, it doesn't seem special anymore. This is less likely to happen if someone has an original name like Victoria or Twisted. I call one of my friends Baby. I've been doing this for 4 years and she only wants to be referred to that way by me. I'm never allowed to say her name lol. I I do try not to refer to my other friends using the nickname baby because I feel that it isn't the same. I usually just say hunny.

Pallas Athena 4 years 13 weeks

I think the pet name you call your SO should only be used with the SO. If someone calls other people by it, it doesn't seem special anymore. This is less likely to happen if someone has an original name like Victoria or Twisted.I call one of my friends Baby. I've been doing this for 4 years and she only wants to be referred to that way by me. I'm never allowed to say her name lol. I I do try not to refer to my other friends using the nickname baby because I feel that it isn't the same. I usually just say hunny.

pippins_halfling 4 years 13 weeks

I'm with Miss Senorita. I had an ex who had some petnames that seemed very much just for me - when we said "goodbye" he would say "toodle pip" (like in my screen-name), but he did that with others too. Ah well.

pippins_halfling 4 years 13 weeks

I'm with Miss Senorita.I had an ex who had some petnames that seemed very much just for me - when we said "goodbye" he would say "toodle pip" (like in my screen-name), but he did that with others too. Ah well.

Miss Senorita 4 years 13 weeks

They annoy me especially if its unoriginal.

macchiatolove 4 years 13 weeks

I don't think I'd like that either. Usually my nicknames for my bf are specific to him, so I wouldn't call anyone else by those names - my bf's name is Wayne, so I call him Wuckers (In australia, the phrase "no worries" is sometimes changed to "no wuckers" as a slang thing, so it kind of comes from that) I frequently call MY [female] friends gorgeous, hun, chicken etc... but I would never, ever call HIS friends anything other than by their names. The bf is the only male that I would call baby or honey or anything like that - I only use nicknames on close female friends. I feel it means that there is no confusion about my intentions, haha!

macchiatolove 4 years 13 weeks

I don't think I'd like that either.Usually my nicknames for my bf are specific to him, so I wouldn't call anyone else by those names - my bf's name is Wayne, so I call him Wuckers (In australia, the phrase "no worries" is sometimes changed to "no wuckers" as a slang thing, so it kind of comes from that)I frequently call MY [female] friends gorgeous, hun, chicken etc... but I would never, ever call HIS friends anything other than by their names. The bf is the only male that I would call baby or honey or anything like that - I only use nicknames on close female friends. I feel it means that there is no confusion about my intentions, haha!

Twisted Elegance 4 years 13 weeks

candace87 i totally agree with you.. why would someone take a nickname just because it's 'cute' and it has no meaning to them! i call my boyfriend "stinky" but he doesn't have bad b.o. by any means haha! it's just between him and i when we're alone but most of the time we just call each other babe, baby, etc. i would never call him stinky in public.. that would be way embarrassing loli don't really have "cute" nicknames for my friends but i do call one of my best friends "hoeski" it's an inside joke though cause we're always calling other girls hoeski's lol :-poh, and i would DEFINITELY get ticked off if my bf was calling random girls "sweetie" or anything along those lines.. not cool at all!

Twisted Elegance 4 years 13 weeks

candace87 i totally agree with you.. why would someone take a nickname just because it's 'cute' and it has no meaning to them! i call my boyfriend "stinky" but he doesn't have bad b.o. by any means haha! it's just between him and i when we're alone but most of the time we just call each other babe, baby, etc. i would never call him stinky in public.. that would be way embarrassing lol i don't really have "cute" nicknames for my friends but i do call one of my best friends "hoeski" it's an inside joke though cause we're always calling other girls hoeski's lol :-p oh, and i would DEFINITELY get ticked off if my bf was calling random girls "sweetie" or anything along those lines.. not cool at all!

ThePerfectScore 4 years 13 weeks

i want a guy to call me a petname!! :( I'm usually only refered to by my name... with an occasional baby thrown in for good measure.

VicVicVictooriaa 4 years 13 weeks

My boyfriend calls me pancakes. It was something that my friend michelle mis-heard one day (I was talking about how I wanted to make pancakes) and she was like "your nickname is pancakes?" and then he just started called me that. I love it. I call him pumpkin because that is what I think his orange cat should be named.

VicVicVictooriaa 4 years 13 weeks

My boyfriend calls me pancakes. It was something that my friend michelle mis-heard one day (I was talking about how I wanted to make pancakes) and she was like "your nickname is pancakes?" and then he just started called me that. I love it.I call him pumpkin because that is what I think his orange cat should be named.

sleepypie 4 years 13 weeks

I despise pet names among friends, & especially when someone I hardly know uses a pet name for me like "sweetie." Ew. A romantic relationship, however, is a whole different story.

DarlingDA 4 years 13 weeks

The boyfriend calls me "darling" and I call him "honey pie". I don't think either of us have ever called anyone else by that name, but I think I would be a little ticked off if he called another girl "darling". Generic ones like "hon" or "sweetie" I wouldn't care about, but darling is mine!!!!We have one guy in my office that says "Good morning, Sunshine!" to me every morning, and I was kinda creeped out until I realized he called everyone that, even his male coworkers.

DarlingDA 4 years 13 weeks

The boyfriend calls me "darling" and I call him "honey pie". I don't think either of us have ever called anyone else by that name, but I think I would be a little ticked off if he called another girl "darling". Generic ones like "hon" or "sweetie" I wouldn't care about, but darling is mine!!!! We have one guy in my office that says "Good morning, Sunshine!" to me every morning, and I was kinda creeped out until I realized he called everyone that, even his male coworkers.

Muirnea 4 years 13 weeks

Omg, I hate it when people overuse pet names. And by overuse I mean use the same name for a bunch of different people. It's not a sweet cute name that actually means something anymore if you use it on everyone you know!! Then it's just like a regular word, like saying "hey you!" or something. I don't mind people calling their friends pet names...but to make it special, maybe have different names for people that actually mean something about your relationship with that one person. There were a couple words and names I thought my bf just used with me for a while. And then I realized he uses them around all his friends. It just makes you feel really unloved. Like you aren't anything special, you're just the same as all his friends. :(

Muirnea 4 years 13 weeks

GlowingMoon 4 years 13 weeks

I'm okay with it. I'm guilty of this, too. I've used pet names with my close friends (they are dear to me).

GlowingMoon 4 years 13 weeks

I'm okay with it.I'm guilty of this, too. I've used pet names with my close friends (they are dear to me).

lauraxtc 4 years 13 weeks

i like pet names. i dont really care.

WeTheLiving 4 years 13 weeks

I have no problem with friends using pet names for each other, mine do. But I'd be weirded out if my friend's bf used pet names for me. Those are 2 different situations.

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