February 5, 2014

On Pet Names and why they're bad for you...

Hey y'all,

Did y'all have a purty weekend? I did - will tell you about it in another post.

So you know my mind likes buzzing and all these random things enter my mind, or I remember some of my theories and have to share. Now is one of those times, so grab a crayon, cardboard, write it down and paste it on your office desk because that's where you spend the most time.

So pet names. You know how you're all giddy and seeing everything through rose-colored glasses, and you just know that he/she is the one! So you call him/her any of the following...

BABY
BABE
DARLING
LOVE
SWEETHEART
PUMPKIN
HONEY
SUGAR

These bring a smile to your face, right? Of course they do, because you haven't learned why pet names are bad for you. Let's address the Top 3 reasons, shall we?



  1. Your SO might be a no-good lying son-of-a-cheat! But how will you know, when every time you call him/her, they're calling you "baby, babe, lovey, honey?" You'll never ever catch them since they'll never mistakenly call you someone else's name. On the plus side though, if you're out with your SO and he/she shouts out "Baby," if you're not the only one who answers, then you know for sure that you're dating a no-good lying son-of-a-cheat! Anyways, just tell your SO that henceforth, they must call you by YOUR name or be creative and make something up just for you.
  2. You're the new man/woman in their life, and you find out your SO called their ex by any of the aforementioned pet names. Won't you feel bad? They don't love you enough to come up with something just for you? Imagine the day you find out that she also called her ex-boyfriend "Sugar or Daddy." And God help you even more if she called her ex "Sugar" AND "Daddy" at the same time :p
  3. You're commitment-phobic or just unlucky in love. So you have had like 10 exes in your past, and you wanted each relationship to have its own uniqueness, so you used a different pet name each time. Well guess what? Now you've run out of names to call your new SO who you're sure is definitely the love of your life, and will finally marry! You might end up  having to call them "Butter" or "Yam."
DON'T DO IT! JUST SAY NO!!!

Never fear though! Help is on the way from me :) The way to combat this Pet Name confusion is by creating new names, that are not applicable to others. Find something unique about the person, or create a funky nickname for them. E.g.

Oluwatomilolu = Milo 
Ekenedilichukwu = Neddy
Chiamaka = Mak
Fola = umm, hmm, erm, I'll get back to you.

OR, just say "Hey you" flirtatiously and you're good to go!

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51 comments:

  1. So my pet name can sound like Ruru... I like!!

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  2. LMAOO What?!!

    Anyways my pet name, EB from my ex has sort of become a nickname but it's all good.

    http://itsebunite.wordpress.com

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  3. I sooooooo hate those names, especially baby, like seriously dude I was a baby some 20somtin yrs ago. Why take me back??? I warned my ex never to call me such names...he never did but he called me sumtin much more worse and I couldn't help but follow suit. He called me fish n I called him prawn...*covers face*

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  4. Funky nicknames are good but they have the tendency to go wrong as well. Maybe should think outside the box and consider fruits, I used to call my friends cute fruit names like Pineapple, strawberry, Berry and it was great as long as you avoided names like Paw Paw ;)

    www.Anemifit.com

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  5. Lol. You no serious at all. Milo ko, Bournvita ni.

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  6. Hilarious post. On the other hand, someone people use pet names to avoid having to call their SO by their names especially in places where it is considered disrespectful. Just my thoughts.

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    Replies
    1. Where and why would it be considered disrespectful to call your significant other by their names, parent given government names at that?

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    2. Well, you can't be calling your husband by his name especially when you have kids else your children will start calling their father by his name. My son calls his father sweety sometimes, imagine if I was calling my husband by his given name.

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    3. That is not a good enough reason my friends kids called her mama so and so because they heard it from the neighbours and maids and she nipped it in the bud as soon as it started. It is upto you to teach them to call their father papa, daddy etc As soon as they start talking you inject the "come to daddy go to mommy give it to daddy bring it for mommy into their heads.

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    4. @ Blessmyheart - Erm, how is it disrespectful to call your SO by his/her name? In what scenario or situation?

      @ Anonymous 2 - You teach your child to say "Daddy." Every child starts off saying names, but you correct them and say "No, that's daddy or mummy." They're babies so they learn quickly

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  7. looool u know i WILL comment! Fola is tough but my ex used to call me "Flo" sha. xxxx
    www.folasoasis.com

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  8. I'm glad im not alone in saying baby, boo, etc are used so ppl don't mix up names lol

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    Replies
    1. Haha, we're the smart ones. We know these things :p

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  9. I give anyone I love (friends, family) a nickname, and it's always along the lines of what you explain at the end...no "baby", "babe" etc for me! It's just too overused!

    Please tell us you call your hubby Cakes in person...hehehe...that would be so cute!

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    Replies
    1. Funny enough, I call him by his first name most of the time. But I throw in "Cakes" when I'm being romantic or if I want something :p

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  10. #3 is the story of my life lol

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  11. Berry you are just hilarious!
    I also hate the term 'babe' or 'baby'... Apart from the fact that I don't think it makes a lot of sense lol, originality people!! :-D

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  12. hi Berry, are you saying ur hubby's name was coined by you? #justcurious.....

    Ngozi

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  13. hahahaha berry wont kill me. As for my name Fola, i used to get folz a lot. But i love pet name sha #batting eyes#

    I heard someone call her husband "my heartbeat" recently. I liked it but it sounded long.

    www.stylefash25.blogspot.com


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    Replies
    1. Loool! Yes too long. D person could just say "beat" and only the two of them could know what it meant. Original AND sweet. IMO anyways lol

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    2. Folz is not bad. Cakes calls me "My heartbeat" sometimes too.

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  14. Milo? Hehe
    Fola will be Fofo or Lala then. Only thing is I definitely won't respond if I'm called Fofo or Lala :-D

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  15. Ugh I used to hate all those. Esp "baby". I warned my ex never to call me that. But then we started dating and I just let it go and before u knew it I was calling him "babes". I just couldn't go all the way to "baby". But u r right. I ain't doing it no more lol

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    Replies
    1. Lol. Babes and baby are not far from each other :p

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  16. Lol I usually do unique names. When I feel lazy, I just do initials. Believe it or not, something as plain as ' B' works brilliantly. He smiles every time I say 'Hey B' :)

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    Replies
    1. My grandparents call each other their initials :)

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  17. I call him baby cakes

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  18. Because I'm awesome, I give them tribal names. I've had Temi, Obim, Nifemi, Ima... I deserve an award innit?

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    Replies
    1. You do! Very good choice cos you can't run out of languages.

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  19. I think I've given Mi Querida, Ololufemi, Miene Liebe and now I'm out of names for the next one who I'm hoping would come along soon. Chai! I hate the regular names. Simply annoying

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  20. lol. personally, i love the word babe, especially when when his name is not so easy or everyone calls him the short form of his name. take bankole for example, most people would call him banks/ banky

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  21. What of Lala for Fola?

    Sometimes I don't like pet names. Especially for people who call everyone else some sort of pet name (sweety, honey etc).
    i think I'd have to get very comfortable, over time, with being called a pet name like 'bae/bay' (short for babe), and it'd have to be something not common. perhaps something that meant something to the two of us.

    Or as you suggest, use some sort of shortening of my name, or even my middle name! As few, in fact only maybe 2 or 3 people call me by my middle name.

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    Replies
    1. Lala for Fola works. And middle names too. I have like 4 other names, so that would definitely work for me.

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  22. Berry u re soooo funny.
    I watched ur wedding pix yesterday on BN n I am like HONEY why dont we marry by the beach. And I get , ooo ok, lets talk about that tomorrow. I cried/smiled watching them. My hope/faith rose.
    Thanks for being U.
    Jenny

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  23. Hi berry jst stumbled on yo blog today and I must say I love your right ups.u r funny.lol. Na real milo. M igbo n he's yoruba so we opted for d temi and nkem thing.I called him temi n d nxt thing was to ask wat it was in igbo.here we r now.or I call him lulu(olaoluwamikoletan).*broad smile*

    www.styltix.com

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  24. Hahaha @ milo. How about we just throw ovaltine, pronto and bournvita into the mix. I loooooooove pet names though. I love being called 'baby' or 'babes'. Maybe it's cos I grew up in a home where we used pet and nick names alot. Had an ex hu carved 'digz' out of my surname which also morphed into 'digzy' or 'diggy'

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  25. Y'all think "baby" ain't cool? Wait till an Ibo guy calls yhu "nne"... story of my life...hehe

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  26. My boyfriend calls me "pretty" n I blush every time he calls me that

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