A Pig, a Dog or a Cabbage for a Lover! Terms of Endearment!

How would your beloved react if you called her/him a little flea, a snake, a puppy, a dog or a cabbage?

People love to play with words and give compliments to their beloved person. There is infinite variety in how people use words as terms of endearment. Terms of endearment or what names you give to your beloved varies from culture to culture.

Photo credit: G. Carrillo

Terms of Endearment Used by Lovers in Different Cultures

You can find a South American lover in Chile or Peru whispering to the ear of his/her beloved perrita (a little dog) while she calls him gallo (cockerel). Oso/osito (bear or little bear), gato/gatito (cat or little cat) and even mono/monito (monkey or little monkey) are rather common names for lovers.

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The Mexican way with words might be hard for North American women to understand. The Mexican man might call his beloved wife gordita (fat woman) though she might be slim or his wife as mi vieja (my old woman) though she might be young. Mi vieja implies much respect and affection and doesn’t mean my old hag, as someone with less insight might interpret.

Some French and Belgian men associate love with gastronomic delight by calling their beloved mon chou (my cabbage) as men do in Somalia qaali. In France there are many animals joining in the amorous pursuits of humans. The amorous French man might call his lover ma biche (my doe), ma puce (my little flea), ma cocotte or ma poule (my little chicken) or ma petite caille (my little quail). She responds by calling the gallant Gaul mon gros loup (my big wolf) or mon lapin (my rabbit).

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The Poles bring an entirely different menagerie into the bedroom. In Poland the beloved woman might be called a rybko (fish), zabeczko (a frog), muszko (a tiny fly), króliczku (chick), ptaszku (little bird) or even musczeczko (tiny sweet fly).

The Serbs also invite an entire zoo into the bedroom. Misˇu (a mouse), Pile malo (little chicken), prase (piglet), konj (horse), kobila (mare). The Serbian man might call his beloved dragana, while she will call him a dragan. You might imagine a dragon but it means beloved. 

The Russians also have all kinds of animals in their embraces - Legushka (little frog), rybochka (little fish), kissochka (little snake), svinochka (piglet), krysochka (little mouse) or sokol (falcon). 

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Terms of Endearment Not For Mothers-in-Law

There are all kinds of expressions for mothers-in-laws in different languages, most of them pretty harsh on the poor ladies. 

Is that why the Aboriginal societies in Australia had customs prohibiting people from directly talking to their mother in law? 

To reduce friction, both men and women needed to communicate via a third person.

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Do you know any animal names used between lovers?

Does Voter Turnout Tell Anything About the State of Democracy?

The higher the voter turnout, the healthier is the democracy. This is a common assumption. 

Photo Credit: Ian Britton

This is not always true. The Soviet dictator, Stalin always got 99,9% votes. In Soviet practice less than 50% voter turnout meant that elections were not valid and thus in Stalin’s single-candidate elections 99% turnout was reported. 

The reportedly 64,1% (on 7.11.2008) is said to be the 100 year highest ‘record’ turnout in the US presidential elections of 2008.

How Does US Voter Turnout Compare with Other Countries?

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• In the Iraqi elections of 2005, there was 71% voter turnout
• in the Russian presidential elections of 2008 it was 68% 
• in the UK parliamentary elections of 2005, 61,3% turnout
• in the EU elections of 2004 the turnout was 45,5% (lowest at 7% in some areas). 
• In the Iranian Majlis or Parliamentary elections of 2008, the Ministry of Interior figure claims voter turnout to be 52% from Iran’s 49 million eligible voters. 2,200 candidates were, however, barred from running on the grounds that they were not sufficiently loyal to the Iranian revolution. Turnout in the second round of Iranian elections was only 25% and winning candidates got only 25% of electoral support.

In the US, 52,6% of voters supported the democrat candidate Barack Obama and the whole world has applauded his election. Russian President Medvedev won the 2008 elections with 71,25% of electoral support. EU member countries Germany, France and Britain claimed that these elections did not meet their criteria for democratic elections, but along with EU promptly congratulated the winner President Medvedev.

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• In Iraq, the winning party with 42 women got 48,1% of electoral support though very few people would consider Iraq to be a safe and functional democracy. 
• In the UK 2005 elections, only 21% of the electorate actually supported the winning party candidate Tony Blair.

Statistics can be utterly misleading if we are to draw any conclusion on the state of democracy in any elections.

What About Enforced Compulsory Voting in Democracies?

Should the US consider enforced compulsory voting, like in Australia or Malta where they have 95% turnout?

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There are currently 32 countries with compulsory voting. Of these, 19 countries like Australia, Lichtenstein, Belgium and Singapore enforce it. Of the 30 member states of the OECD ten have some kind of compulsory voting.

The main argument in favour of compulsory voting is that it then represents the will of the majority and not only those who vote. Further, it can eliminate malpractices in providing or hindering access to vote. Thirdly, it forces people to think about controversial issues and take a stand.

The main argument against compulsory voting is that voting is a civil right like free speech and not a civic duty like paying taxes. There are also religious strictures against involvement in politics as those among Jehovah’s Witnesses, which would make compulsory voting oppressive.

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Does Low Literacy Mean Low Voter Turnout?

Another fallacy is that literacy corresponds with high levels of voter participation through ballots. 

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A low literacy does not necessarily mean a country's turnout rate will be low. There is no significant statistical correlation between literacy and voter turnout. 

• Low literacy countries such as Angola and Ethiopia have achieved high turnout rates.

Some people, when trying to explain situations in Western democracies or EU elections, interpret that low voter turnout is actually a sign that things are going smoothly. Others warn that voter apathy means, on the contrary that voters show their mistrust and fatigue by not bothering to vote.

Funny Incidents from the 2008 US Presidential Elections

• A judge in Ohio ruled that homeless people could use a park bench as their address in order to register.

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• A voter couple flew home from India just to cast their ballots.

• NASA astronauts on board the International Space Station sent a video message encouraging people to vote as they did, from 200 miles up.

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• Democrat candidate Obama's Ohio volunteers knocked on a million doors on Monday 3.11.08 to gather votes. That very night, a Florida official locked himself in the Seminole County election headquarters and slept overnight with the ballots to make sure everything was clean.

Why are Seats Empty at Beijing?

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics was a spectacular show. The entire choreography was flawlessly executed, with each minute detail falling in place to showcase China’s might and prowess to the world. 

But people could notice an embarrassing factor even at the most spectacular show on the planet – empty seats.

Officially all the events are sold out. According to a BBC report, Wang Wei, a senior official with the Beijing organising committee (Bocog), said empty seats was not a problem unique to Beijing and other Olympics had experienced similar problems. This spokesman blamed the weather for being too hot and too humid and then too rainy. 

The Chinese authorities have tried to address the problem of empty stands by hiring volunteers, dressing them up in yellow and filling the empty seats to act as cheerleaders. They have been given instructions to cheer for both teams to improve the atmosphere in the stands.

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Some people claim that many of the corporate seats are empty because the corporate tickets were handed out only the day before to prevent blackmarketeering and busy executives can’t make it to the events at such short notice.

Is there some other explanation to why the stands are empty? Do the local Chinese see the sports events as strange and Western? 

Do the Chinese people find the idea of paying hefty prices for attending mass sports events too strange? Are the tickets too expensive?

Beijing Olympic Tickets Terribly Expensive

For example, tickets for softball started at $100 for pool play and go up to $400+ for the gold medal game. In Athens, the same tickets were going for about $10 and $40 respectively. The tickets for the Men’s single tennis finals in 2008, are priced at 545€ plus 29€ for delivery charges. According the People's Daily in China, the average monthly income in Beijing is 227 US dollars. Domestic sports fans would definitely find the ticket prices rather expensive.

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The Sydney 2000 Olympic record for ticket sales was 91% of available tickets breaking the previous record for ticket sales of more than 82% set in Atlanta.

Rumours of terrorism drove crowds away from the preliminary competitions of the games in Athens, but attendance picked up soon.

What about the foreign sport fans in Beijing? 

Is it too difficult and expensive getting visas, finding accommodation, getting tickets or are spectators choosing to watch events on TV from the comfort of their homes?