Do you mind if people call you babe?

Edwardia

OH was born on council estate and spent first fifteen years of his life there. He moved away so he doesn't sound like his siblings, he has a style of his own in clothes, did postgrad and has a good job.

He does however still like fry ups and mushy peas as a treat and whenever he has to talk to people like train staff or plumber or someone male like that he goes all geezer and calls them "mate".

He does refer to women in shops and call centres as "love" "dear" and "darling" without getting into geezer mode so it sounds strange to me. It also means it would be impossible to tell whether he was talking to his sister, a bank employee or a mistress.

I get called darling or by my name.

I'd never call anyone hon babes etc in real life but I have used hun in emails.

zaksmum that's a lovely story !

paulineb_2

I think mate can be more of an area thing than a where you were brought up thing, my friend is from essex and he wasnt brought up on a council estate but he calls everyone mate and if you heard him speak, well its not posh. What I mean is, depending on where you live, unless youve had training and had the accent knocked well out of you, its possible to be very middle class and speak with an accent thats something out of eastenders, by his own admission, my friend says he talks very like Joe Swash.

Im not posh either, I think my accent is fairly common for where I live (Im scottish, west of), but there are people who speak with a harsher accent than me and I was brought up in a council house.

I dont like hon or hun but as I said, hen is a scottish term of endearment and I dont mind it

My brother is very quietly and softly spoken, you certainly wouldnt be able to tell whether he was brought up in a certain area by listening to him

Maybe some people are polite and well spoken irrespective of their social status, who knows.

Soleil_lune

I don't mind: there's a lot worse names to be called

I_luv_cats

Talkin of hun, gord that's annoying especially from the bingo websites I've tried, cos most of the hosts call everybody hun!

sooty&sweep

Depends who it is and how its used.
If its a dirty old man yes Id be offended if its just a term someone uses no Id not be offended.

Betty_Crumble

In my work I call the men sir but do tend to be less formal with women and I must admit that until today, reading this thread, I'd not gave it a second thought that I may be offending people. Flossy is a regular of mine.
Colleagues get called all sorts lol but mainly half a a job bob or doughnut.

ska_lover

Really do not see what there is to get upset about OP - it was clearly meant as a term of endearment. You upset someone who was using a term of endearment on you.

Someone said earlier that people who get upset over things like that, are people that they tend to want to be nothing like and No, I wouldn't want to be anything like you, either. I would have taken it as the friendly gesture it was intended to be - and not been so up myself as to upset someone!

ailuro2

babe. pet, love, darling...

it's just a term of endearment.

Used by someone you don't know, or aren't in a relationship with.

It's just wrong and I hate it, but can see that some people use it like they would "mate" with a bloke they didn't know.

Doesn't stop it being really annoying though.

anon123456

I honestly can't remember the last time my wife used my name. She's always called me babe and i'm even in her phonebook as babe. So i call her baby or snuggles back.

I understand it bothers some people but i always have and always will call female friends "hun" its turned into an unbreakable habit but i would never mean offence by it and if someone asked me not to i would.

I think it's not the words that are the issue ever here it's the sentiment and thoughts behind the word. They make all the difference

aileth

I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't have a pet name for my OH and he doesn't have a pet name for me? We just call each other by our names!