Maybe it's because I have baby on the brain, but lately I've started thinking more about the most common terms of endearment—and turns out, lots of them are food-related. For example, did you know that back in Shakespeare's day, "chuck" was slang for my love (from the sound of chickens clucking) and "bawcock" was a term often used to refer to a fine fellow?
Of today's food nicknames, there seem to be nine main categories:
Baked Goods: words like baby cakes, cookie, cupcake, honey bun, snicker-doodle
Breakfast Food: have you ever called someone a doughnut, muffin, or pancake?
Candy: bonbon, chicklet, gumdrop, jellybean, sugar-daddy, sugar plum, sweetheart, tootsie
Desserts: pudding, pudding pie, sugar pie
Edible Animals: chick, ducky, lamb
Fruit: apricot, blueberry, peach
Savory Dishes: dumpling, hot dog
Sweet Ingredients: chocolate chip, honey, marshmallow, sugar
Vegetables: peanut, pumpkin
Other languages venture into slightly more creative territory.
French: "petit chou" or "mon chou" meaning little cabbage or my cabbage; "petit pois" for little pea; "mon cochon" for pig
Greek: "fasolaki mou" meaning my little green bean
Italian: "patatino/a" for little potato; "polpetto/a" meaning meatball
Japanese: "tamago gata no kao" for egg with eyes
Portuguese: "meu chuchuzinho" meaning my little squash
Russian: "mya morkovka" for my little carrot
Growing up, my mom called me "bumble-bee-tuna-mouse" and my dad called me "mousekin," "piglet," or "weiner schnitzel". Why don't we call people guava? Kale? Cronut? Macaron? Baking soda? Skittles? Casserole? Salmon?
What food nicknames or terms of endearment would you recommend? Or refuse to answer to?
