I've been struggling with something since dating C. No, nothing like that. My problem is, what to call him? Those of you that know me in "real" life, know that I tend to have a lot of nicknames for people - often short, two-syllable words like lady or chica or mama. With Fab, it was easy - I couldn't pronounce his full name in the beginning, so I took to calling him (much to his chagrin) by his childhood nickname - Fafa. (Which also explains my aversion to the Flight of the Concords "Foux de fafa" song that has been making the rounds in the blogosphere as of late - who wants a constant reminder of their ex?).
And while C's name is two-syllables, it is rather long. Plus both of my ex-BIL's share his name, so any diminutives of it are automatically associated with them. So I'm stuck. I don't want to go to with the standard "mon amour" or "mon chéri" or "mon coeur" - I'm looking for something with a little bit of originality. My Scottish friend down south suggested "mon Frenchie", and I tried it out, but that never really worked for me either. I've tried asking around a bit, but most of the people I know here tend to speak English to their partner.
So I'm curious, what do you all call your significant others? Since we speak French together, I'm looking for something ideally in French and not longer than five or six letters.
Let the suggestions commence!
Labels: C's follies, Dating and Mating
posted by Ksam @ 10:35 AM
23 Comments:
Since my husband isn't french, I don't have a cute french name for him. But a friend here calls her husband "doudou" which I found hilarious at first (as you, no doubt, know a doudou is a kid's lovey/security blanket/stuffed toy thing), but I now think its kinda cute!
A French couple I know uses "doudou" too - She calls her man "loulou" and he calls her "doudou". I've noticed that French people often use animals for nicknames e.g. ma puce, ma poule - is there a cute male animal name you could use?
What's wrong with 'C'
If C's name is the same as my FIL's, you MUST call him MiMi!
My husband is Italian and I have been calling him "amore" (very common here) or by the nickname given to him when he was a child for 12 years. BUT! Recently, our 4-year-old son has taken to calling him "Ciccion", which is akin to calling him "Chub". This is funny for a few reasons, the first being that my husband is really skinny and the second that my son has taken a nickname no child would ordinarily use for a parent ("Ciccione") and modified it to make is sound like the local dialect. It is also a great nickname. And I have started to use it too.
I think that's what you should wait for. The nickname will come and you'll know it when it does.
You should call him "Betty", and "Betty" when he calls you, he could call you "Al" ... He could call you Al! ... HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE!
My hubby calls me his flea or his sugar duck, either in french or in english depending on his mood. I call him baby because i'm painfully unoriginal.
You could always do like the northerners and call him "biloute". That's sure to be a hit ;)
I tend to agree with Jennifer. The name will come with time.
Nico and I called each other "My Sweet". It was quite cute when he would babble on in French and then stick in a My Sweet. Its funny but even now I have a hard time calling him Nico! He will always be My Sweet - thats just his name! ;)
J and I mostly used generic names for the first couple of years when we were mostly long-distance but when we started living together names started developping more naturally. Chou became choupinette which eventually was abbreviated to choupie which doesn't mean anything but has pretty much been what we call each other for the past two years. It sounds horribly corny to me but I couldn't imagine calling him anything else!
my favorite pet name was actually for my last ex, but it was so playful and cute I'll always cherish it, even if he was an asshole.
he had a really fantastic butt so i eventually ended up calling him "butts." he liked it enough to use it back so we both referred to each other as "butts." it was affectionate and sweet and i still smile when i think about it.
Due to too much "un gars une fille" at the beginning of the relationship, I am chouchou and he is boubou, since I thought the whole point was that it started with the letter of his name, so I still don't get how Jean became loulou, but whatever.
He has now started calling me "cabbage cabbage" in front of people, which is pretty funny if they speak English. "Mud mud" just never caught on for me. Cheri(e)/baby/banane are pretty frequent as well. Just see what comes out!
I suppose "caca" is out of the question...
i'm a fan of chou chou.
Guess I won't be much help. I usually call Georges "sweetie" (which he loves, by the way) or mon coeur or mon amour. He usually calls me mon amour or (get ready for it) Lisamour (yes, he came up with that one himself and if he wasn't French he'd never be able to pull it off). On occasion, one of us might say "my darling" to the other, and this is the first time I've ever called any man THAT without feeling like I'm in a Doris Day movie. Anyway we may not be all that original but we love our pet names all the same. :)
Have to say, I can't quite get behind the French custom of using animal/vegetable words as terms of endearment... can't imagine calling someone "my flea" or "my cabbage"!
But seriously...
I do know someone here who's name is C. and who is know by his wife as Kiki.
toto? like the dog, or the band, or the intelligent toilet manufacturer?
me and au will sometimes call each other "mon cher"/"ma chere" and we vous each other in the same sentence. it's mostly to be silly but it's affectionate at the same time.
DH's french and we call each other "piglet" because no one else in France knows what that means!
hehe you should call him "mon petit poulet" because he is a cop after all. He could then call you "ma poule" so you match. But really, nicknames are not for me and I always feel silly and fake using them. People have first names for a reason - to use them.
(and I call Max "mon bébé d'amour" when I'm feeling nice, and other times, "Silly Button" which is also what I call the dog)
I think you should call him croldiv because that was my previous word verification and it happens to start with 'c'...also doesn't it sound kind of manly and cromagnon-like?
In all seriousness though, I agree with peepz above that said the nickname will just come with time. It could be anything from cage a poule to cocorico, you just never know!
PS-My new word verif is topugly...does that mean like ugly in the facial region? Ha!
Wait. We're supposed to have pet names other than "idiot" and "pauvre type"? Really?
Interesting...
:-)
I call my French husband shithead--two syllables, but probably more letters than you're looking for.
I call him doudou to his face, but, ya know, doudou and shit, both kinda the same thing, right?
I think the nickname will come with time. Gosh, trying to think of nicknames I use for Julien... let's see...
- julio (pronounced with spanish accent hulio)
- Jul
- Hon
- Hey you
Yeah, give yourself some time... it'll come naturally.
Hmm... I came in late to the game...
I usually call Alex, "Hun" and "Honey." Not too original.. but I used to call everyone and their DOG, "honey" or "Hun" back in the States... and guess what? Since I moved to France, Alex is the ONLY one I call Hun or Honey... Hahahaha! So, the nickname is exclusively his!! I rarely ever call him, Alex... Honey seems to soften the blow when I ask him to do something for me or if I'm annoyed! hehehe
You'll find one in time...
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