What's a silly pet name or term of endearment I can use for my partner?
My partner and I have tried out various terms of endearment (like “love”, “dear”, “baby” or “babe"), but none of them ever sounded natural when either of us used them — it just ended up being silly, and so we do occasionally pepper them into conversation, when we’re being silly.
The one I tend to use most often is “my love”, because it feels silly in an overly poetic and melodramatic manner. Recently I also used “my serendipitous saccharide” (saccharide meaning sugar, because he’s sweet, and serendipitous because this relationship was a surprise to both of us).
Anyway, I’m running out of ideas for terms that will evoke an affectionate eye roll out of him. Any suggestions?
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Ones I use: “My liege”, pal, beans, Slagathor, buns, honey buns, honey bunches of oats, oats, oat milk, oat milk latte, latte, soy latte, soy, soy sauce (you have to do this in a progression or else it won’t make any sense)
Little Poop, Little Fart, Little Terror, Little Pug (as in the dog). Believe it or not these are all extremely common in Dutch!
Edit: to be fair they sound better in dutch
Lmao what are they in Dutch!?
Believe it or not? Little Poop, Little Fart, Little Terror, and Little Pug. (I don’t speak Dutch)
Thanks, gonna use these in English for my English speaking gf
Poepje, scheetje, (not sure), moppie. Although I don’t think the last one is anywhere related to the actual dog lol.
For fart, the word in Dutch is close to our word for precious. The others I haven’t really heard, but it’s not the kind of thing you’d say in public anyway.
I’ve always loved mon petit chou chou which is roughly “my little cabbage cabbage” from French. I also like jannu, which I think is “my soul” in Urdu? Also solnyshko, little sun, from the Russian, is very fun.
Thrustmaster
Senpai
Bonus points if you make an overly exaggerated effort to talk like a caricature of an anime romcom protagonist.
In my former married life, my wife was a fair bit shorter than me, so I’d occasionally call her ‘low-pockets’. When we got a dog, he became ’no-pockets’. When we had a baby, he became ‘small pockets’. I did only actually use these terms a couple of times as a gag though.
It’s quite hard to find something that doesnt sound silly. We kinda failed with my partner so we use “ange” for angel in french, which is cringe af, but we add an n- prefix that makes it sound silly anyway, so nange, to lean into the dumb side of the force. Otherwise the classical “chéri(e)” (which i believe is the equivalent of “darling” in use, but literally speaking means cherished) is the one that feels the most natural. But anyway, i dont think you can find a better one than serendipitous saccharide !
Big Dawg or Heckin Chungus Wife
Just kidding. I used to put on a raspy smoker’s voice and day “Sugah Tits”
Sugar britches, sugar tits, sugar biscuits
Shug-lite
I thought it was hilarious to actually stop using anything other their formal name with my ex.
Is that why they are an ex?
you know. there are pet name people and not pet name people. its actually like a spectrum on how natural it is to use it. my wife is a bit more pet name than me but she will call like women she converses with honey and sugar to (no she is not from the south. no idea where she picked up the habit). I barely like using names even. Only using them to get attention or in multi person situations.
I’m officially Sweet Potato.
That’s the most common one I call my wife, and I’m salty potato
Mon Petit Chou French for “my little cabbage”.
“Stinky* is fun.
My wife’s contact name in my phone is “Hot Stuff”.
Goose (like silly goose) is one of my favourites.
Same same.
Also frequently “gooseface”
Ouuuu I like that! Lately she’s been asking to be called king so that’s my current goto.
Pookie for one of you, Snookums for the other. I’m not going to tell you which way round the names go; you have to work some of this shit out for yourself.
Sausage - my bf’s one size fits all term for those he loves, from actual sausages to his pets and me
To at least one member of my family, who uses it often, this is an abbreviation of “silly sausage”, which in turn is a variant of “silly person”. It is a term of endearment, but there is a mild negative connotation.
“Dingus”, “doofus” and “oaf” are comparable terms.
My point being that I wouldn’t want “sausage” to be the pet name given to me by a significant other. Other people won’t have this usage in their family or community and may have other opinions, of course.
*bangwI’*, qochwI’, or par’Machkai
Suggestions, courtesy of MST3k:
Slab Bulkhead
Bridge Largemeat
Punt Speedchunk
Butch Deadlift
Hold Bigflank
Splint Chesthair
Flint Ironstag
Bolt Vanderhuge
Thick McRunfast
Blast Hardcheese
Buff Drinklots
Crunch Slamchest
Fist Rockbone
Stump Beefknob
Smash Lampjaw
Punch Rockgroin
Buck Plankchest
Stump Junkman
Dirk Hardpec
Rip Steakface
Slate Slabrock
Crud Bonemeal
Brick Hardmeat
Rip Slagcheek
Punch Sideiron
Gristle McThornbody
Slate Fistcrunch
Buff Hardback
Bob Johnson
Blast Thickneck
Crunch Buttsteak
Slab Squatthrust
Lump Beefbroth
Touch Rustrod
Beef Blastbody
Big McLargehuge
Smoke Manmuscle
Beat Punchmeat
Hack Blowfist
Roll Fizzlebeef
I’ve used “darling” a lot, especially when I was dating a non-binary person.
My current gf and I use “goober” or “goobie” a lot as an old inside joke thats just part of us now.
Droopy Bollocks
Pudding, sweetness, lover, cutie, my beloved, man of my heart, man of my dreams, my dream come true
Man I’m ruining out of ridiculous sounding names lol
mister muffin
Something overly masculine, like hunky or studly.
May I suggest the Korean word 여보? You can try both the 애교 style and the serious style to see what works. It’s sort, grabs the listener’s attention quickly and I think easy to pronounce. There are probably plenty of videos floating around on how to do it.
Pumpkin
Honey pie, honey lamb, honey child
Lusty Chad
I think the best ones stem from deep shared history. One time, I spilled a little blue paint on the toe of my shoe. For a few months whenever I wore those shoes my partner would occasionally say something like “here comes ol’ blue toe” just to get a chuckle out of me. It was stupid and perfect.
Eventually, that transformed into “blue guy” with occasional mutations: big blue guy, big blue, or just plain “blue”.
We have other nicknames for each other too, but that one has been around for years and is one of my favorites.
A key is being able to lovingly poke fun at each other, and not take yourselves too seriously. Sounds like you’ve got both of those things, so just keep an eye out for an opportunity to make your own!
Possum.
I’ve always liked dearheart, too.
But I mostly call my wife Killer.
Sweet thang?
My crumpet
I like being overly dramatic, like getting names from old tragedies.
Oh Tristan!
What is it my dear Iseult?
The dog shat on the floor again…
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