Terms of Endearment: A Critique

In the history of its uses for me, terms of endearment have come and gone. I admit, I've used darling in the recent past, as well as baby, for the occasional man.

Now, my issues with terms of endearment come when girls call other girls excessive terms of endearment. Including but not limited to: baby, babe, sweetie, honey, sweetheart, hun, all in one conversation. When I receive these endearments, instead of feeling closer to the person - I feel slightly dirty, cheap and way awkward.

There are only 2 real occasions for using the term baby, other than referring to an infant. One is sassy, like.. "NO one puts baby in a corner" or "Baby didn't know who she was talking to". The other is more condescending like.. "Ooo, baby, I'm sorry you didn't know any better." The acceptable use of baby is of course, when talking about your significant other, who you're probably sleeping with. If you sleep in the same bed, baby is fine.

The term sweetheart, when not used sincerely, such as: "What a sweetheart for ordering me that Edible Arrangement!", can normally be replaced with the word, BITCH. For example, "Sweetheart...what do you think you're doing?" - replace sweetheart with bitch, and you get what the person is really trying to say, which is "Bitch, wtf do you think you're doing?"

As for the other terms, honey, sweetie, babe - those can be used sometimes but the problem is the over-usage. An occasional, "What's wrong, sweetie?" is always appreciated, but when overused, it's just plain creepy. I stopped using babe in middle school, but perhaps that was just a personal preference. I've heard it used before satisfactorily.

Terms of endearment should be used in cases of warm comfort and a heightened sense of feeling close to your close friend, but constant use - my blog is here to warn you against just that. Please calm that shit down. I cannot handle being called several terms of endearment at once because it frankly freaks me out.

Thanks, my dear. I appreciate your time.