A listener in Fairbanks, Alaska, says her husband has long referred to her as a whippersnapper, insisting it’s a playful term of endearment. Whippersnapper goes back to the 17th century, when boys who didn’t own horses would strut around...
Lana in Evansville, Indiana, says all the women in her family affectionately call each other Gert or Gertie. She has discovered that one of her friends also uses the name Gertie as a term of endearment for the women in her own family. Although in...
A Canadian-born caller says her mother, who is from Britain, addresses her grandson as booby. In The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, researchers Iona and Peter Opie write that booby is a children’s term for “a foolish...
A listener in Lashio, Myanmar, reports that a term of endearment in the local language translates as “my little liver.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “My Little Liver” Our conversation about terms...
“May a mouse eat you,” or in Persian, moosh bokharadet, is a term of endearment suggesting the recipient is small and cute. Another picturesque hypocorism: French mon petit chou, “sweetheart,” but literally, “my little...
Sötnos, with an umlaut over that first o, is a Swedish term of endearment. Literally, it means “sweet nose.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Sötnos” Granted, I know you know some Swedish. How about this...