A friend and I recently got talking about terms of endearment and pet names. Ones that irk, ones that are sweet and why on earth we even use them in the first place! The discussion was lively and humourous to say the least.

Anyone who knows me, knows there is a healthy dose of silliness that goes into my day-to-day. A product of growing up in a family where a sharp sense of humour and penchant for absurdity are inherent traits. But a select few who know me exceptionally well, know that I have a passionate affinity for pet names and terms of endearment. Both as the recipient and the giver. 

Overall, I find that pet names run the gamut of personal, inside jokes { booger } to descriptive traits { brown sugar }, and then there are those that are universal: cupcake, sweetie pie, sugar, honey, dumpling and so on.

At first, I theorized that partiality was perhaps mired in upbringing. Did a persons family always use pet names? Does using them towards each other as adults remind us of a sense of home and nurturing? For myself, growing up in London as a child amongst adults -being the youngest in the brood, 'older people' always addressed me with a term or another that wasn't my name - it was part of the fabric of the culture: 'Hello poppet, petal, beansy, dear heart' I was called them all and instantly felt awash with the warmth of affection that fueled such words. 
But lately, upon deeper reflection, I've realised that near all of the terms that I love and the majority of us love are food related...'<em>Sweetie pie, poppet, honey..'</em>. Maybe, just maybe we love terms of endearment not just because they are stated with love, but because they also satiate our tummy. 

After all, we are all a little bit 'craven'...