Name: 你也叫過另一半「小親親、小寶貝」嗎？！為什麼我們會對愛人使用噁心肉麻的暱稱？ (Why Do We Use Cringey Words for Loved Ones? | Otherwords)
Uploaded: 2024-05-11T21:01:30.000Z
Duration: 9 min 26 s

What cute nicknames do you call each other?

你們給對方起了什麼可愛的暱稱嗎？

It was one of the first stuffed animals I got her.

這是我送給她的第一個毛絨玩具之一。

- It was like a Beanie Baby. - Yeah, a Beanie Baby.

- 就像一個豆豆娃。- 對，豆豆娃。

My partner, for some reason, I always used to call him Boo.

我的另一半，出於某種原因，我總是習慣叫他 Boo。

There's pyaar, there's mahabat, there's jaan, there's ishq.

會叫他 pyaar、mahabat、jaan 還有 ishq。

K.G. griffindor, griffy, little griffy boo-boo.

我會叫他 K.G.、griffindor、griffy、little griffy boo-boo。

- 我會叫他 Tootie Butt。- 你叫他 Tootie Butt？

Why do we use such unusual words for the people we love?

為什麼我們會用如此不尋常的詞語來形容我們所愛的人？

From Kitty to Cutie, two thirds of American adults refer to their romantic partners by a pet name, and we've been doing this for a long time.

從小貓咪到小可愛，三分之二的美國成年人提到用寵物的名字來稱呼他們的愛人，而我們這樣做已經很久了。

"The Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary" traces terms of endearment, in the English language at least, over 1,000 years.

「牛津英語詞典歷史辭典」愛稱的痕跡至少在英語中已有 1000 多年的歷史。

While old-timey pet names, like Heartikin and Lamb Chop, have come and gone, Darling, which appears in written records as early as 888 CE, is one term of endearment we still use today.

而老式的寵物暱稱，如 Heartikin 和 Lamb Chop，已經跟現在都出現過，親愛的，早在公元 888 年就出現在書面記錄中，是我們至今仍在使用的一個愛稱。

But where do all these pet names come from?

但是，這些寵物名字從何而來？

And why is it so tempting to call our partners My Sweetest Little Pumpkin Pie instead of using their actual name?

為什麼我們如此傾向於稱呼我們的伴侶為「我最甜蜜的小南瓜派」而不是使用他們的真實姓名？

I'm Dr. Erica Brozovsky, and this is "OtherWords."

我是 Erica Brozovsky 博士，這裡是 OtherWords。

What did your parents call you when you were growing up?

在你成長的過程中，父母是怎麼稱呼你的？

Like the family name, they call me Cong, which is, which means smart in Chinese.

就像我的姓氏一樣，他們叫我聰，中文意思是聰明。

叫你聰是因為他們認為你很聰明。

What other kind of? - They hope I'm smart.

還有什麼？- 他們希望我聰明。

- That was a wish. - That was a wish, yes.

- 那是個願望。- 那是個願望，沒錯。

A lot of our common terms of endearment are using words for things to describe people.

我們許多常用的親暱稱語都是用事物來形容人。

Linguists note that many of these terms of endearment fall into one of these categories.

語言學家們注意到，這些暱稱中有許多屬於其中一類。

- Her name's Carrie. - My name's Carrie, and it just kind of morphed into Curry.

- 她叫 Carrie。- 我叫 Carrie，然後就演變成了 Curry。

Muffin, Sugar Plum, Baby Cakes, Honey Bun.

鬆餅、糖梅、嬰兒蛋糕、蜜包。

There's an endless list of desserts you can call your beloved.

這裡有無窮無盡的甜點清單可以用來稱呼你的摯愛。

It's also a cross-cultural phenomenon, from Arabic's Asal, meaning honey, to Japan's Tamago gata no kao, meaning egg-shaped face.

這也是一種跨文化現象，從阿拉伯語的 Asal（意思是蜂蜜）到日本的 Tamago gata no kao（意思是蛋形臉）。

So like Gulab Jamun is like an Indian sweet.

所以 Gulab Jamun 是一種印度甜食。

It's like a little brown, like sugary sweet, which is really, really good.

有一點棕色，像糖一樣甜，真的非常非常好吃。

But sometimes when you have like a little boy, and like he has his cheeks, and then you'll say he's like a little Gulabu 'cause he like has the little cheeks.

但有時，如果個小男孩，他的臉頰很圓潤，然後你會說他像個小 Gulabu，因為他有小臉頰。

One of the earliest edible epithets is Sweetheart, which shows up in middle English texts as early as 1290.

最早的可食用綽號之一是 Sweetheart，早在 1290 年就出現在中古英語文本中。

However, it would take over 500 more years to show up on a box of Valentine's candy.

然而，500 多年後才出現在一盒情人節糖果上。

My name like, Neil, it means blue in Hindi, and my middle name means mango.

我的名字叫 Neil，在印地語中是藍色的意思，我的中間名是芒果的意思。

- You love mango. - And I love mangoes too.

There's a lot of crossover between food-related pet names and another popular category, plants, think Pumpkin Pie or Mon Petit Chou In French, which speakers say translates either to my little cabbage or my little cream puff.

與食物相關的寵物名稱和另一個流行類別植物之間有很多交叉，例如法語中的「南瓜派」或「Mon Petit Chou」，說話者說這可以翻譯為我的小捲心菜或我的小奶油泡芙。

Meng is like sprouting, like when spring comes, everything starts to sprout.

萌意思是發芽，就像春天來了，萬物開始發芽。

So meng is that action, so he'd go by Meng Meng.

所以，萌萌就是那個動作，所以他叫萌萌。

But using a vegetable as a term of endearment likely came later than nicknames like Honey or Sugar.

但把蔬菜作為愛稱可能比 Honey 或 Sugar 等暱稱來得晚。

Pumpkin first shows up in descriptions of the American dialect in 1900, gaining popularity through the mid-century when, along with Sweetheart, Peaches, and other pet names, it picked up a sarcastic or condescending usage as well.

南瓜首次出現在美國方言的描述中是在 1900 年，整個世紀中葉開始流行，與「甜心」、「桃子」和其他暱稱一起，它也被用來​​表示諷刺或居高臨下的用法。

- Do you have a nickname? - What do we call you?

- 你有暱稱嗎？- 我們怎麼叫你的？

A third category of pet names is literally pets.

第三類寵物名稱是字面上的寵物。

Animal names like Kitten and Lovebug are popular nicknames today, but in the late 1800s, you might've called your lover a Prawn.

動物的名字像小貓和 Lovebug 是當今流行的暱稱，但在 19 世紀晚期，你可能會叫你的夫妻「大蝦」。

Thai speakers have their Chang Noi, or little elephant.

講泰語的人有一個暱稱叫 Chang Noi（小象）。

And German partners might call each other Mausebar, because referencing just one cute animal wasn't enough.

德國伴侶可能會互相稱呼對方為 Mausebar，因為只提到一種可愛的動物是不夠的。

And while we've covered Shakespeare's linguistic creativity before, linguist Julia Landman notes that he was also prolific with pet names, sprinkling animal-based terms of endearment, like Dove, Ladybird, and Lamb, throughout "Romeo and Juliet" and "Hamlet."

雖然我們之前已經介紹過莎士比亞的語言創造力，但語言學家朱莉婭·蘭德曼指出，他在《羅密歐與朱麗葉》和《哈姆雷特》中也經常使用寵物名，並散佈一些基於動物的愛意用語，如鴿子、瓢蟲和羔羊。

Over the years, I've been everything from a Sue, to a Susie, to a Sue-Sue, to a Doo-Doo.

這些年來，我的暱稱成蘇、到蘇西，到蘇蘇，到杜杜。

My family calls me Ren-Ren, and I think it's a very Filipino thing to double name like that.

我的家人都叫我 Ren-Ren，這樣疊字命名我覺得很菲律賓。

My mom calls me Mijita, which means daughter.

我媽媽叫我 Mijita，意思是女兒。

Many terms of endearment fall under the category of diminutives.

許多暱稱都屬於屬於縮寫的範疇。

Instead of standalone words, diminutives are affixes added to the beginning or end of words to connote smallness or cuteness.

小的語辭不是獨立的單詞，而是添加到單字開頭或結尾的詞綴，以表示小或可愛。

Every language has their own unique diminutives.

每種語言都有自己獨特的縮寫。

There's ito and ita in Spanish, ette or lette in French.

西班牙語中有 ito 和 ita，法語中有 ette 或 lette。

English has diminutive prefixes like mini, as in minifridge or miniskirt, as well as suffixes like ie as in plushie or puppy, and ling as in duckling or darling.

英文有小前綴，例如 mini，迷你冰箱或迷你裙，以及後綴，例如 plushie 或 puppy 中的 ie，以及 duckling 或 darling 中的 ling。

Ina is a diminutive that's appended onto the end of a word to make it small.

Ina 是加在詞尾的暱稱使其變小。

And then she added ina also onto the end of piccola.

然後，她又在 piccola 的末尾加上了 ina。

So I guess if you were like literally translating it, it would be small, small, small beauty.

所以我想，如果你要照字面上翻譯，意思就是小、小、小的美。

In addition to indicating smallness, diminutives can also give speech an affectionate or familiar tone.

除了表示小之外，小的語辭還可以賦予言語親切或熟悉的語氣。

If you called your mom's sister Auntie as a child, it wasn't because she was smaller than you, it's because you loved her.

如果你小時候叫媽媽的姐姐阿姨，不是因為她比你小，那是因為你愛她。

The use of O as an affectionate diminutive has recently become popular, as in kiddo and doggo.

將 O 用作親暱的小名最近開始流行，如 kiddo 和 doggo。

Growing up, my mom called me Xiao Mei Mei.

Mei mei means little girl or little sister, and xiao also means little.

Mei mei 意思是小女孩或小妹妹、而 xiao 也是小的意思。

所以，我的寵物暱稱是個雙重小名。

But diminutives show up in romantic relationships too.

但在戀愛關係中也會出現縮寫。

Calling someone Baby or Sweetie, or even adding the E sound to the end of their name, like Andy or Katie, is a way to convey that you think they're a real, well, cutie.

叫別人寶貝或甜心甚至在名字後面加上 E， 就像安迪或凱蒂一樣，是一種傳達你認為他們真的可愛的意思。

One is 11, one is one, and we'll call them Da Bao and Shao Bao.

一個 11 歲，一個是 1 歲，我們就叫他們大寶和小寶。

Bao is treasure, Da is big, Shao is small, so it's basically Big Treasure and Small Treasure.

Bao 是寶藏，Da 是大，Shao 是小，所以基本上就是大寶藏和小寶藏。

Many terms of endearment represent wealth or value, like Princess, Treasure, or Jewel.

許多愛稱都代表財富或價值，如公主、寶藏或 寶石。

One of China's most popular pet names, first recorded more than 2,000 years ago, is Baobei, which translates literally to precious shell, referring to the cowrie shells used as coins during the Zhou Dynasty.

中國最流行的寵物暱稱之一，最早的記錄是在 2000 多年前，是寶貝，直譯為珍貴的貝殼，指的是周代用作錢幣的貝殼。

And in Danish, a common term of endearment is Skat, which means treasure, but can also translate to taxes.

在丹麥語中，Skat 是一個常用的愛稱，意思是寶藏，但也可以翻譯成稅收。

Even the word dear originally meant costly or expensive, as in you'll pay dearly for this.

甚至連「親愛的」這個詞的原意也是昂貴或代價高昂，因為你會為此付出慘重的代價。

Are there any terms of endearment based on things like royalty or wealth?

是否有基於事物的愛稱比如皇室或財富？