I love the Guardian, I do. But sometimes it does disappear into delicious self-parody. In Scotland the collective working-class term of endearment used to be Hen, that still the case?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/01/dont-call-me-babe-on-the-bus

What is my crime? Just politely contacting my local bus company to let them know that I don’t like it when their bus drivers use terms such as “love”, “darling” and “babe”. I pointed out that I generally find their drivers friendly and courteous but that when some of them use that language I find it demeaning. I wasn’t angry, I didn’t ask to make a formal complaint, I wasn’t trying to get anyone into trouble, I’m not trying to get anyone fired, I didn’t threaten legal action – I just thought they might like to know how the actions of some of their staff made me feel.

Er….

Why not babes?

Long since been the standard for public employees – are you still living in the 70s?

I often use sweetheart, I am often surprised at how often people see it as some kind of insult or attack. Some people are just too sensitive.

round here they call you ‘shug’. no idea WTF it’s supposed to mean, it’s bloody annoying though.

What she wrote sounds fair enough to me

<edit>I don’t like it when strangers call me “mate”, I’m not your mate

(and “excuse me mate” is normally a prelude to either trying it on or requesting me to do something I probably don’t want to do)

Sounds like she needs to calm down a bit

They always take it positively when you point out that calming down helps 😀

I call all women ‘love’ and men ‘mate’, mainly as I have the worlds’ worst memory for names – but with a broad (well Southerners’ think it is) Yorkshire accent it seems all accept it as fine.

And tbh my misses (Southern girl) calls everyone ‘darling’, or her good lady-friends ‘chick’.

OI! TJ! PUT YOUR NICKERS ON! AND MAKE ME A CUP OF TEA!!!

😉

It’s not a term I’d ever use. I leave gender specific terms of endearment for my g/f although I do reserve the use of the word “sweetie” to female pals who’ve done something above and beyond the normal call of duty. Like giving me cake.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eoejedW7a4[/video]

Sugar tits is a favourite of mine – not really got a favourite for the girls though

good shout Rad 🙂

BR if I’ve met someone atleast once mate is OK but not complete strangers.

BTW I don’t go mental about this sort of thing, just irks me a little.

Binners, that’s post du jour for me. Well done. Have a gold star.

Everyone says ‘love’ round here when speaking to someone of the opposite sex.

I think it’s a very nice term of endearment.

What Donk said, it’s actually pretty difficult to argue with any of what she says, though I notice mcboo hasn’t actually bothered to make an argument so it’s just trolling really.

I used to get called ‘love’ by male bus drivers in Leeds though, which always seemed a bit odd.

TBH love seems ok to me, but sweetheart or darling do seem a bit patronising. Dunno why.

‘shug’?

Proper West Ox locals use ‘shag’.

Allllroiiyyyte Shaaaaag?

Its the epic snobbery implicit in the article, working class folk everywhere talk like this.

Me I’ve taken it to an extreme, where I call the 50yr old SE London geezer sitting opposite me “Suger-Lips” and “Hot-Stuff”. He’s getting used to it after 2yrs but I do get the odd “Shaaaaaaaraaaaaap” in retaliation.

They tend to call everyone duck around Notts/Lincs sort of area

working class folk everywhere talk like this.

Sweeeeping generalisation.

Its the epic snobbery implicit in the article, working class folk everywhere talk like this.

Hmm, shouldn’t the same standards of behaviour apply whatever your social background? Apart from anything else in a customer service role it’s just a bit unprofessional. I’ve worked in call centres before and would never dream of saying love, or even mate.

You are the one bringing class into it, who’s the snob?

The one I hate is “my friend” when used by strangers usually shop assistants .As in hello my friend can I help you ?

Old Bristolians still call people babber ,as in alright me babber ?

personally I find it degrading when wimmin, call me: pet, love, darling or drive

Who do I write to get these evil patronising women fired?

🙄

Some people are just looking for stuff to offend them.

When the phrases babe, hen, love, mate, fella, me duck, guvnor, sweetheart, darling etc are used by a cabbie/bus driver/person behind a counter in a shop/whomever, it’s generally an indication that they are not a po-faced, miserable git.

Anyone who finds those terms offensive when used in that manner, generally, is.

mcboo – Member

Its the epic snobbery implicit in the article, working class folk everywhere talk like this.

Oh the irony. You really do have no idea do you. How snobbish does that make you

🙄

Isn’t “Shug” short for Sugar?

I quite like being called “Treacle” by the Chip Shop lady! Always used to get “Moi Luvver” when down Bristol way too. I don’t think I’ve ever been offended by it though, it’s nice to be informal.

Also, did anyone else automatically think of “Voice of the Beehive” when reading the thread title? No? Oh, okay…

Or

Yep. People casually using terms of endearment and friendship.
That’s what’s wrong with the world these days… 🙄

Last year when visiting Cornwall with my German girlfriend, the bloke behind the counter at a bakers said something along the lines of “hello my lover, what can I get for you then”, to which my girlfriend turned to me in a state of shock and proclaimed she had never met this man before in her life.

I laughed uncontrollably for a very very long time.

TJ I’m as common as muck and proud of it. How’s your po-face this morning?

to which my girlfriend turned to me in a state of shock and proclaimed she had never met this man before in her life.

The lady doth protest too much 😉

Noticeably its all men criticising the woman quoted in the OP. I guess you might feel differently if there was a cultural legacy of men being belittled and discriminated against (and still got paid less for doing the same jobs).

Problem with ‘Babe’ is it’s hardly without sexual connotations, is it?

Unless the drivers call every female passenger babe then there’s a possible element of judgment being shown prior to using it.

Two things Mcboo – you show your snobbery with the sterotypical reference to “the working class” and you don’t understand the difference between “Hen” which has no sexual connotations and is not degrading and “babe” which is.

I suspect yo really do live in the 70s

So what do you say if you bump into someone? Oops, sorry sir?! apologies my good man?

TJ I’m as common as muck and proud of it. How’s your po-face this morning?

Didn’t we go through this in another thread? Where you were claiming to be a ‘salt of the earth’ ‘common as muck’ type but to turned out you had a totally normal middle class upbringing?

pathetic