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?

Two Languages Two Minds! Cultural Frame Switching!

Do you behave differently in different surroundings, especially when you are speaking in different languages?

Are you aware of CFS or cultural frame switching?

What is Cultural Frame Switching?

Cultural frame switching refers to the phenomenon where bicultural individuals shift values and attributions in the presence of culture-relevant stimuli.

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I notice that I am a very different person while I speak Italian compared to when I converse in Finnish. Many bilingual individuals speak about their similar experiences with speaking different languages. For example, in one context they are more extravert and open, while they are more subdued and conscientious in another. They say that they feel like a different person depending on which language they are speaking. A new study lends credence to their claims.

Nairán Ramírez-Esparza, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences at the University of Washington, charted the personality traits of 225 Spanish/English bilingual subjects in both the U.S. and Mexico as they responded to questions presented in each language. 

The five dimensions along which difference were noticed among bilinguals are: 

1. Extraversion
2. Agreeableness
3. Conscientiousness
4. Neuroticism
5. Openness. 

Ramírez-Esparza and her colleagues found that when using English in USA, the bilinguals were more extraverted, agreeable and conscientious than when using Spanish. The differences in neuroticism were not significant.

Previously researchers have shown before that bicultural individuals can assume different roles depending on environmental cues. But the new results indicate that character itself can morph.  

“To show that changes in personality—albeit modest ones—can be triggered by something as subtle as the language you’re speaking suggests that personality is more malleable than is widely expected,” Ramírez-Esparza explains.

When bilinguals answer questions in their native language the values and attitudes associated with that language condition their answers. When they respond to a questionnaire in their second language, norms and values associated with that language affect their responses.

Though switching tongues will not turn a bookworm into a party animal, but the variances are noticeable nonetheless.

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The number of bilingual and bicultural people in the world is significant. 

Does having the ability to function in different personality modes give you skill and competence advantages as an employee or as a community member? 

Does it make you a better team member or a better boss?

Photo source:: http://www.morguefile.com/ Photographers:  taliesin and Keith Richardson