Pet, hinny, petal, flower, pet lamb - here in Northumberland, the country of the House of Stories, these are all terms of endearment. I once astonished a godson by calling him 'pet'. Bless him, he comes from the Far South. I generally call children 'sweetie, 'sweetheart,' 'my darling', 'poppet' or 'sweet lamb'. 'Tuppence' is another one, or 'little tuppence'. I have no idea why. 'Sweetheart' and 'my dear' are OK for adults too, as is 'my love'. In Bristol they say 'my lover', which to me means something completely different.
In France, it is affectionate to call someone 'ma petite chou, ie, 'my little cabbage'. I could be wrong, it could be 'mon petit chou', I just can't remember whether cabbages are male or female. It's important, if you're French, or a cabbage.
Today I've been thinking about sweets, possibly because of the delightful little box of Turkish Delight sent to me by the Golden Child and her brother. Lovely, lovely children and lovely, lovely Turkish Delight! If we can say 'sweetie' or 'sweetheart', why don't we use sweets as terms of endearment? Much nicer than cabbages. We could call each other 'my little toffee', 'my sugared almond', 'you squidgy marshmallow'. Romeo could go down on one knee beneath Juliet's balcony and call her his bon-bon, his butterscotch, his Juliet Jelly-Bean.
Who are the people you love? Who is your little flying saucer? Who is the rum truffle that makes your day? Who's your mint imperial, your sherbet fountain, your caramel? Have you told them?
Goodnight, my little chocolate buttons.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment