When (or if) you do reach the point of pouring forth your undying love, you must revert to strings of conditionals and subjunctives. Even if you called them ‘darling’ before, everything now becomes extremely complicated. None of these terms should ever be directed to the object of your affection. In English – especially UK English – there are many ways to explain to other people that you’ve developed ‘a bit of a crush’: to fancy someone to kind of like someone to like someone in that way… What happens when epiphany strikes and that person who was once your darling ‘pal’ suddenly appears in a whole new light? Oh, gosh. Naturally, English has a whole host of terms for this too – pal, mate, chum, cocky, bro, dude… Likewise, ‘sweetie’ and ‘hun’ are almost ubiquitous among some southern speakers of English (stereotypically those from upper-middle-class backgrounds), while ‘hen’ is used just as often as a friendly word for ‘darling’ as it is for a feathered animal one might find in a coop.Ī caveat: ‘Love’, ‘sweetie’ and the like are not regarded as traditionally ‘masculine’ – and while an adult male might call a child or a woman ‘love’, more ‘blokey’ terms are preferred. In parts of the UK, epithets such as ‘love’, ‘chuck’ and ‘duck’ are handed out liberally to everyone you meet, from best friends to bus drivers. To celebrate Valentine’s Day, let’s take a look at all the ins and outs of loves and darlings – the British English way. Of course, in the multicultural hubbub that is the UK, this list is considerably longer, as people from faiths and backgrounds across the world toss the term of endearment around their day-to-day British lives.Įach ‘darling’ is a window into the type of person the speaker is, the part of the UK they live in and their cultural background – and, of course, where they are at in the relationship with the ‘darling’ they are addressing.
Take, for example, the word ‘darling’ – or rather, the words in the plural.Īccording to the University of Glasgow’s Historical Thesaurus, which went online for the first time a month ago, there are 103 ‘darlings’ in the English language, ranging from ‘bagpudding’ to ‘heart-root’ to the delectable ‘pomewater of my eye’. It is not elaborate, it is not tidy, its grammar twists and turns and ties itself in knots, and yet it is crammed with colourful offcuts of every other language – and this is exactly what makes it both exceptionally beautiful and thoroughly practical. How do you say 'darling' in your language? The British Council's Ellie Buchdahl looks at the many variations of the word in British English in the run-up to Valentine's Day on 14 February.Įnglish is the rag rug of languages.
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