I get so annoyed when people (especially my friends) pepper their sentences with generic pet names. I guess I can call them this. I mean when people say things like “hey hun,” “sure thing babe” ... etc etc. I understand the point behind it, it’s supposed to be nice, creating a sort of familiar atmosphere but for starters I just find it patronising. It just makes me feel so small when someone undoubtedly cooler than me calls me ‘babe.’ It’s like I’m being metaphorically patted on the head and someone’s thinking ‘aww isn’t she cute,’ but ultimately thinks I’m a bit of a joke and my opinion isn’t really worth much. This is just so far from the truth, I’m not cute (or a babe for that matter), I’m nothing if not serious and I’m more intelligent than the average person (I’m not boasting or anything, it’s a fact.) Strangely though, I usually only feel this about girls saying it to me, when it comes from a bloke it’s different somehow (although I always hate being called ‘hun’). I think it’s because regrettably there’s still that little part of me that thinks when a guy does it it is actually a compliment to me, and I kind of blush and giggle like a silly girl (I hate that part of me too).

I think that what annoys me most is that it is so generic. People will have a name that they use and they will just call everyone by that name, even people they don’t like. How impersonal! This is why we have our own individual names. My name is Jen, the purpose of my name is for you to refer to me by it. So do it! I guess it all originates from husbands and wives having names for each other as in the infamous ‘Honey, I’m home’ line and I have no problem with that. I have affectionate names that I call my boyfriend and he has the same for me. But they are names that he would ONLY use for me, they are unique to me and thus OK. My parents always call my sister ‘Babes’ and that’s fine, it’s what they call her, she’s the youngest one, the baby. But occasionally my mum will say it to me and it’s just wrong. She does call me by my sister’s name sometimes, so perhaps she just forgot who I was.

My best friend does it as well, she’ll send me a text starting ‘hey my lovely.’ Well, I’m not hers and I’m definitely not lovely. I’m a bitch, I’m argumentative, I’m a pain in the ass and a bit of a tomboy. Not lovely. I was getting my hair done yesterday and the guy doing it was calling me ‘Darling’ but also calling his colleague ‘darling.’ I just would have thought that he’d be slightly more familiar with her than with me. He doesn’t know my name so I can kind of understand that (although I would rather he asked my name and then used it), but he knows his colleague, why would he use the same degree of familiarity with me and with her. People don’t have to try so hard to be nice and be liked all the time, it’s all so fake. Does this bother anyone else? Maybe I’m just weird, I’ll fully admit to that!