What's a silly pet name or term of endearment I can use for my partner?

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?

46 points · 50 comments · view on lemmy.world

50 Comments

panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 23 pts · 25d

Ones I use: “My liege”, pal, beans, Slagathor, buns, honey buns, honey bunches of oats, oats, oat milk, oat milk latte, latte, soy latte, soy, soy sauce (you have to do this in a progression or else it won’t make any sense)

SanderZeldenthuis@nord.pub · 13 pts · 25d (5 replies)

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

madvincent@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 25d (4 replies)

Lmao what are they in Dutch!?

Carl@anarchist.nexus · 2 pts · 25d (1 reply)

Believe it or not? Little Poop, Little Fart, Little Terror, and Little Pug. ^(I^ ^don’t^ ^speak^ ^Dutch)^

madvincent@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 25d

Thanks, gonna use these in English for my English speaking gf

BandanaBug@piefed.social · 2 pts · 25d

Poepje, scheetje, (not sure), moppie. Although I don't think the last one is anywhere related to the actual dog lol.

RecursiveParadox@piefed.social · 1 pts · 24d

For fart, the word in Dutch is close to our word for precious. The others I haven't really heard, but it's not the kind of thing you'd say in public anyway.

CombatWombat@feddit.online · 11 pts · 25d

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.

sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz · 8 pts · 25d

Big Dawg or Heckin Chungus Wife

Just kidding. I used to put on a raspy smoker's voice and day "Sugah Tits"

FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io · 7 pts · 25d

Suggestions, courtesy of MST3k:

Slab Bulkhead

Bridge Largemeat

Punt Speedchunk

Butch Deadlift

Hold Bigflank

Splint Chesthair

Flint Ironstag

Bolt Vanderhuge

Thick McRunfast

Blast Hardcheese

Buff Drinklots

Crunch Slamchest

Fist Rockbone

Stump Beefknob

Smash Lampjaw

Punch Rockgroin

Buck Plankchest

Stump Junkman

Dirk Hardpec

Rip Steakface

Slate Slabrock

Crud Bonemeal

Brick Hardmeat

Rip Slagcheek

Punch Sideiron

Gristle McThornbody

Slate Fistcrunch

Buff Hardback

Bob Johnson

Blast Thickneck

Crunch Buttsteak

Slab Squatthrust

Lump Beefbroth

Touch Rustrod

Beef Blastbody

Big McLargehuge

Smoke Manmuscle

Beat Punchmeat

Hack Blowfist

Roll Fizzlebeef

RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 25d

Thrustmaster

missingno@fedia.io · 6 pts · 25d

Senpai

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

Takapapatapaka@tarte.nuage-libre.fr · 5 pts · 25d

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 !

sintax@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 25d (1 reply)

Sugar britches, sugar tits, sugar biscuits

anomnom@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 25d

Shug-lite

Almacca@aussie.zone · 5 pts · 25d

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.

akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 25d (1 reply)

I thought it was hilarious to actually stop using anything other their formal name with my ex.

davidgro@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 25d

Is that why they are an ex?

Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 25d (1 reply)

I'm officially Sweet Potato.

spudsrus@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 24d

That's the most common one I call my wife, and I'm salty potato

melsaskca@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 24d

My wife and I have been together over 40 years. I call her "old woman" and she calls me "old man".

Zier@fedia.io · 4 pts · 25d

Mon Petit Chou French for "my little cabbage".

HubertManne@piefed.social · 4 pts · 25d

you know. there are pet name people and not pet name people. its actually like a spectrum on how natural it is to use it. my wife is a bit more pet name than me but she will call like women she converses with honey and sugar to (no she is not from the south. no idea where she picked up the habit). I barely like using names even. Only using them to get attention or in multi person situations.

NaibofTabr@infosec.pub · 3 pts · 25d

bangwI', qochwI', or par'Machkai

BevsDad@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 25d (2 replies)

Goose (like silly goose) is one of my favourites.

hereiamagain@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 25d (1 reply)

Same same.

Also frequently "gooseface"

BevsDad@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 25d

Ouuuu I like that! Lately she's been asking to be called king so that's my current goto.

jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 25d

My wife's contact name in my phone is "Hot Stuff".

Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk · 3 pts · 25d

Pookie for one of you, Snookums for the other. I’m not going to tell you which way round the names go; you have to work some of this shit out for yourself.

schmorpel@slrpnk.net · 3 pts · 25d (1 reply)

Sausage - my bf's one size fits all term for those he loves, from actual sausages to his pets and me

palordrolap@fedia.io · 4 pts · 25d

To at least one member of my family, who uses it often, this is an abbreviation of "silly sausage", which in turn is a variant of "silly person". It is a term of endearment, but there is a mild negative connotation.

"Dingus", "doofus" and "oaf" are comparable terms.

My point being that I wouldn't want "sausage" to be the pet name given to me by a significant other. Other people won't have this usage in their family or community and may have other opinions, of course.

Saltarello@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 25d

Droopy Bollocks

Kolanaki@pawb.social · 3 pts · 25d

"Stinky* is fun.

blargh513@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 25d

mister muffin

DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 25d

Something overly masculine, like hunky or studly.

gole@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 25d

May I suggest the Korean word 여보? You can try both the 애교 style and the serious style to see what works. It's sort, grabs the listener's attention quickly and I think easy to pronounce. There are probably plenty of videos floating around on how to do it.

radiouser@crazypeople.online · 2 pts · 25d

Pumpkin

empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 25d

I've used "darling" a lot, especially when I was dating a non-binary person.

My current gf and I use "goober" or "goobie" a lot as an old inside joke thats just part of us now.

Samsy@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 24d

Long time ago I learned people from croatia say "oko moja" to their partners which just translates to "my eye" this is silly and clever in a way I can't stop thinking about.

greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 25d

Pudding, sweetness, lover, cutie, my beloved, man of my heart, man of my dreams, my dream come true

Man I'm ruining out of ridiculous sounding names lol

404@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 25d

I like being overly dramatic, like getting names from old tragedies.

Oh Tristan!

What is it my dear Iseult?

The dog shat on the floor again...

watson387@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 25d

Sweet thang?

Dry_Monk@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 24d

I think the best ones stem from deep shared history. One time, I spilled a little blue paint on the toe of my shoe. For a few months whenever I wore those shoes my partner would occasionally say something like "here comes ol' blue toe" just to get a chuckle out of me. It was stupid and perfect.

Eventually, that transformed into "blue guy" with occasional mutations: big blue guy, big blue, or just plain "blue".

We have other nicknames for each other too, but that one has been around for years and is one of my favorites.

A key is being able to lovingly poke fun at each other, and not take yourselves too seriously. Sounds like you've got both of those things, so just keep an eye out for an opportunity to make your own!

Smokeless7048@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 23d

My wife's name is Kat, so our pet name for her is Kitten,

bingbongfroggong@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 24d

Possum.

I've always liked dearheart, too.

But I mostly call my wife Killer.

sem@piefed.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 25d

Honey pie, honey lamb, honey child

harmbugler@piefed.social · 1 pts · 25d

homeslice, habibi, elskling

vantablack@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 14d

cumwaffle

SirActionSack@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 25d

Lusty Chad

ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 24d

My crumpet