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?

  • missingno@fedia.io
    1·
    2 months ago

    Senpai

    Bonus points if you make an overly exaggerated effort to talk like a caricature of an anime romcom protagonist.

  • HeroCool@nord.pubEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    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

  • Almacca@aussie.zoneEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    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.

  • CombatWombat@feddit.onlineEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    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.

  • Takapapatapaka@tarte.nuage-libre.frEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    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 !