13 Terms of Endearment

Writers are always looking for endearments to have their heros call their heroines. In Sleeping With the Wolf, Taye calls Carla ‘Sweetheart’. In Wolf’s Glory, Shadow tried several before settling on ‘Sunshine’. In Tracking Tami (first draft almost done! Yay!) Tracker’s a matter-of-fact kind of guy, and he usually calls her Tami.  Eddie calls Lisa ‘My Sweet Wife’ when he’s feeling insecure and ‘Lisa-love’ when he’s feeling romantic. Here are some foreign words for darling or sweetheart or wife.

1. Cherie – French

2. Querida – Spanish

3. Elskling- Norwegian

4. Kedvenc – Hungarian

5. Alskling- Swedish

6. Lufestre – Old Anglo-Saxon

7. Saiaino – Japanese

8. Habibti – Arabic

9. Winuhca – Lakota

10. Dorogoyaja – Russian

11. Auvati – Hebrew

12. Agape Mou – Greek

13. Jaanemun – Hindi

Most of these would be from a man speaking to a woman. I cannot swear to accuracy or spelling of half of these, as the alphabet used by American English speakers is different than many of these.  I’ve read some books where the endearments were so over-used that I couldn’t enjoy the story. Some are ridiculous. “Fairytale Girl” is one that comes to mind. Sometimes they even seem patronizing. What are your thoughts on endearments?