I’ve encountered many people who like to address even strangers with terms of endearment like darling, honey and sweetie.
In an effort to sound nice, friendly and caring even to strangers some like to call people with pa-sweet words, Wag na siguro. You could get into trouble. Mapagkamalan pa na boyfriend o girlfriend mo o meron kayong relasyon. Lalo na sa mga magkaka sambaho (workmates), don’t call each other sweetie. Not professional.
Although this happened to me many years ago, there were Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) officers and employees who got so accustomed to addressing me as “darling”. They began and ended their sentences with this nakaka-kilabot na super corny na darleeeng. I found it so baduy. I just couldn’t call their attention. I didn’t know how to request them to stop calling me darling. Nakikilabutan talaga ako.
Ilonggos and Cebuanos call their beloved palangga. That’s sweet. Some women are even nicknamed Palangga. Where I came from, the only palangga in Binangonan was the wash basin or palanggana. So when total strangers or those trying to be sweetie-sweetie with me call me palangga, nakikilabutan rin ako. HIndi bagay sa akin na maging palangga because hindi ako sweet.
I shared a table with a couple while having breakfast in Honolulu. After eating, the wife asked her husband “honey bunch are you going to unload?” What she meant was kung magpoo-poops ba daw husband nya after breakfast. When she asked that, hindi pa ako tapos kumain ano and she probably thought my IQ was low that I would not understand the meaning behind her Davinci code. Kaya ngayon, every time I hear the word “honey” parang mapoo-poops ako. So please don’t ever call me honey.
When I was a lot younger, some men who tried to flirt with me would murder my name Annie and call me Honey instead. They thought I would be flattered and kilig. Hindi ako mababaw. “May I call you honey?”, “Will you be my honey?” Kunsuming-kunsumi ako. Walang ka-style-style. HaniP sa kakornihan to the nth degree.
There are only three people that I call using terms of endearment. I call my children anak and sometimes babe (kasi nung baby pa sila). And of course si honeybunch (poops), sweetie pie (yaks) and darleeng, Edmund. We’ve been calling each other sweetheart (tart for short) since we were college sweethearts. Eh kasi in-love pa kami nun sa isa’t isa kaya sweet na sweet. Nakasanayan na kaya hanggang ngayon, even when we are quarreling and yelling at each other, “ALAM MO TART, NAKAKAPIKON KA TALAGA!” “SWEETHEART ano ba yan!” Kahit gyera patani na ‘tart pa rin tawag.
