Bored.
I am bored. Bored bored bored. I'm bored.
And I'm stuck on blog topics, because everything I think of seems boring too.
I do have some good news though. I managed to write 10k words this weekend, bringing the Unholy Ghosts sequel up to just over 46k. Yay me! It was actually just Friday and yesterday, really, as saturday we were doing family things. By which I mean sitting on the couch watching tv.
Watched The Devil Wears Prada. Disliked the book, disliked the movie. Blah.
I've been searching through my archives, because I know I did a post about terms of endearment at one point, in which I discovered how many women disliked heroes who calltheir heroines "baby". "Baby" as a keyword didn't bring it up; "endearment" didn't either, and neither did "term". So, I do't know where it is.
But once again I find myself stuck. I need an endearment.
See, for me these things are A Big Deal. What the hero calls the heroine matters. It tells us something about him, about their relationship. (At least in books; in real life the hubs and I call each other "baby" all the time and it never occurred to me to think of it as meaning anything specific.)
So here's what I need. I need a term of endearment. Something sweet and adoring but not cheesy. Something a Very Tough Guy would say, which rules out anything too smooth.
It won't really come into play for some time. But I'm bored and stuck and thought this might be fun.
So. Must be in English. Can be archaic. Must not be smooth or sophisticated. Must not be any variations of "sweetcheeks".
Have at it. See if you can think of anything. Be as outrageous as you want. Be funny. Be serious. I don't care.
Throw in some compliments if you like. Some silly pick-up lines. Whatever you like. This will either be amusing or no one will comment at all, so... I leave it up to you.
28 comments:
Well,
I will just go by what the hubby calls me as that is all I can think of with a cold. He calls me:
Pookie or Pookie Bear,
Snuggle Duck,Babe,
and there is one more but I can't grab it out of the memory banks. If I think of it I will post back. Love your blog by the way. Haven't made it to a store yet to pick up Personal Demons yet but I am looking forward to it.
How about a variation of baby? Babe? I don't know why I used to love it when Bo from Days of Our Lives would call Hope, "Fancy Face." Remember that one? I'm stuck on that one too, December. :*)
Hi Lesleen! Thank you and welcome! Ugh, colds are the worst aren't they? I can never think straight when I have one. Fun suggestions, very cute!
Lol Tyhitia, I remember that!! I used to be a total huge DOOL fan! I think my favorite moment was when Patch finally kissed Kayla, remember that? I was watching it with friends and one of them got so excited she picked up the phone, dialed a number at random, and squealed "Patch just kissed Kayla!" into the hpone when someone answered.
The best part? The girl she called squealed back, "I KNOW! I'm watching it too!!"
Patch and Kayla are still on. And he's still completely hot.
No luck on pickup lines. The only ones I ever got were of the "I lost my phone number. Can I have yours?" variety.
"Hello, gorgeous" always works. I don't like "darling" unless the hero is English. "Baby" never bothers me, but "little one" does. My favorite endearment in a book was Amanda Quick, I think. The heroine was kind of pixie-ish in looks and height and the hero called her Elf. Well, I liked it.
Really, Robyn? I had no idea they were still on the show! Hubs and I caught an episode quite a few months back at like 2 am here, and saw Hope, but I didn't see P or K. Sigh. I was obsessed with him.
Yeah, I'm not crazy about "little one" unless the guy in question is BIG and it's a joke between them. I love "darling" but the hero has to be sophisticated to pull it off. Greyson uses Darling in the PD books and I love that, although it's a lot more casual for him. Love "gorgeous" though, and the Elf thing gives me an idea... Hmm.
No time to be bored right now.
Not an endearment, but chortled over a character referring to another minor character as "that giglet."
Lol Charles, I don't have time either, I'm just lazy. :-)
Ooh, that is cute Bernita! Hee.
Read a pick up line (yes, read, sadly no one uses them on me anymore):
Good thing I remembered my library card, cause I'm checking you out.
Ooh, I like "elf".
One of my big dudes calls his much smaller woman "waifling" or just "waif", unless he's calling her "girl" to irritate her.
And my kick-ass chick calls her, um...girlfriend(? I can never put my finger on the proper term for it, dang it) "dove", "lamb", "pet".
Funny pick-up lines, no. Best compliment in my books is the straightforward: "You're so fucking beautiful," spoken with awe by the H, usually right after the h takes her top off.
Dearest buddies of the masculine persuasion have taken to calling me "Bear," which may be for a variety of reasons:
1. One of them used to torment me by calling me Kerry-Berry, which was eventually abbreviated to the no less godawful Care Bear.
2. I am very unfriendly when I come out of hibernation.
3. I am like a mama bear when it comes to defending those I care about.
4. May also presently refer to the pelt on my legs (but that's just between us).
So you may want to look to the animal kingdom for endearment inspiration. "Kitten" is a little tired, but there are plenty of other soft, cuddly, furry things to choose from. What girl wouldn't swoon at being a man's "sweet little platypus"?
Jaye! ROTFL! That's terrible!
The only time I ever came up with a somewhat good comeback- a drunk knelt in front of me in a bar and said, "Did you know we were married in a former life?"
I told him, "Good thing I had better sense this time around."
Well, pet names for us run along the lines of elementry school insults, so I'm not sure you'd want to use any of the things The Man and I call each other: buttmunch, poostain, fartface, etc.
Dollface, sugarcube, ducky, my heart and love are the best I can come up with, which I think is pretty good considering the above.
Um, hm. I just realized my characters don't call each other by anything other than their names and titles...mind you, they also don't have many scenes when they're being nice to each other either. *sigh* one more thing to add to the "look for this when doing edits" list.
10K is great!
Hmmm, the tough guys who've had a soft spot for me over the years have called me variations of "doll", "baby", "babe", "lover", "angel", "heartbreaker", "beautiful", "gorgeous", "hellcat", and one, in particular, thought it was chivalrous to call me "lady".
(My instinct was to look around and say, "where?")
One surfer dude actually called me "dudette", which I thought was pretty funny, but there was a lot of tequila involved at the time.
Once I know the guy respects me, I'll put up with those names; but a stranger who calls me those risks getting his ass kicked.
"Buttmunch" is just too precious, Seeley...
Hi, I made a link to your profile site to give mine a bit of spice. I'm new to this and I was wondering: how do you and your team-mates manage without using the adult content warning? Also, I nicked the picture of the mistress for my blog - is that okay? A female friend will be joining me soon as a team member and we'd like to expand our audience. I selected the adult content option to be on the safe side, because there's some cuss-words and, of course, your link. Can we do without it?
Sheesh, Jaye, that's a pretty sad one. I don't think anyone has ever actually used a bad pick-up line on me. Probably because I snarl at strange men when they look at me. :-)
I really like "pet", kis, but it takes a certain type of character to pull it off. I have one in mind for a different series one day. :-)
And I agree 100% on "You're so fucking beautiful". Sigh.
Hmm, hmm indeed Kerry. What's funny is my bff and her ex used to call each other "bear" too. They had this whole bear thing happening.
The animal idea is a good one. I'm going to have to think about that, definitely.
Lol Robyn! Very good. :-)
Yeah, I think "doll" or "dollface" or some variation thereof *might* work, Seeley. And as for your characters not using any endearments, that's not a big deal either--although Greyson uses them in PD, Megan never does (which I didn't realize until I was like halfway through the second book). Actually, my heroines tend to be a lot less slavish with them than the heroes are. Hmm.
Ooooh, Devon, I love "hellcat"! Actually those are all good. I thought seriously of using "angel" but this is a world where angels do not exist (it's been proven) so I don't know if that would work. I am still considering it though, because I have a little backstory for the character where I can slip the idea in.
And I agree about men you don't know. There's only one or two types of men who can get away with certain ones.
Hi Retarius! Thanks for the comment. First, yes, I imagine it's fine you took the picture, as Emily got it from somewhere else anyway. As far as the adult content warning...honestly it never occurred to me to use it, mainly because I don't post pornographic images and the excerpts from my erotic books tend to be on the tame side (as far as what's in the books, that is--I don't use the most graphic scenes for excerpts.) Really, I just never worried about it. The occasional "fuck" or whatever is hardly enough to force a blog to go Adult Warning, at least IMO. After looking at your blog I think you could do without it.
It's never boring to write ten thousand words on a weekend. Nice.
As to terms of endearment, there is a reason so few fit. In reality, unless we're being sarcastic or funny, we rely on simple oft used TOE's. I have an imagination, but I don't think I could say Pookie out loud in reference to anyone. :) I was best man at a wedding long ago where my best friend and his new wife called each other Boo and Tacie. They've been divorced for decades. Great care must be taken with TOE's. :)
Heh, Bernard, "Bootacie" sounds like a name for the next Beyonce album.
I agree, though. We do tend to use old standards, simply because they're there. We're all familiar with them. And creative new ones do have a tendency to be a bit twee for most people. That's a really good point, something I've been thinking without being able to really put it together like that. Thanks!
I hate 'baby' as endearment. Someone who'd call me that can leave Right Now. In fact, I don't like sweetie, darling and the whole rest of those words that make a woman appear small and helpless and doll-like, and that includes the German short form of my name. Don't call me Gabi. ;)
There's nothing wrong with my real name. I like it just fine as endearment.
Yes, I'm weird.
December,
That is too funny...lol. I remember it all! Even when Bo and Hope got married. They were always my favorite couple.
Who doesn't like to be called "Hot Stuff" in a flirty moment? -V95
I had a (northern English) boyfriend who called me "Love" - made me melt every time.
Hellcat is good - also sexkitten if it's not too demeaning?
I think lady is good if used carefully ("Oh, lady, you are breaking my heart!")
Thanks for your advice, December, I've removed the Adult content tag - my friend and I will do a lot better without that impediment. I've put a link to here in our site under the heading "Where's the sex, mate?" (This is due to a friend asking that question in some degree of disappointment.) We'll add some others there as we go. If you'd rather just be blogrolled, we'll do that. We'd be glad if you'd reciprocate with a link.
As to your question in the post: specifying it has to be English makes it damn tough. Schwarzenegger has shown how Spanish can be better (Hasta la vista, baby!). How about amiga, muchacha, sentienta (wise one - opposite of bimbo)? Well, I'll ask my blogmate - she may well have a ripper in store!
Lol, Gabriele, I remember how much you dislike any terms of endearment or affection. :-)
See, Tyhitia, I started watching just after Bo and Hope got married. Or right around that time. I vaguely recall their wedding but don't know if I watched it or if it was a flashback or something I saw. :-)
Lol V95, that's a cute one.
Oooh, Sylvia, I like that one too. Sometimes the accent makes all the difference--"love" is fine but "luv" with the accent is scrumptious. Hee.
Glad to help, Retarius! Yeah, my heroes are often bilingual so I can use foreign phrases, but this one is emphatically not, so anything but English is sadly out. :-(
And the only issue with "Where's the sex" is, I don't really blog about sex much, so...
Paca had a post about "Ma'am" last week. I really like it. I think with the right actions, inflections, it's very sexy.
I like Southern.
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