Personally, I have never gotten the hype by the names “baby,” “babe,” “bae,” “honey,” it feels forced to me. I’ve seen those TikTok videos where as a joke people will address their spouses by their real names and the spouses get mad and say something like “my family and friends can call me that, but you can’t.” I’ve never gotten the seriousness of it. If we already know we’re boyfriend and girlfriend, or husband and wife, why should I have to address you by those names? Again, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with saying them, but using real names should become more common as well.
“Never using real names ≠ not using pet names.”
nobody said they were.
“That doesn’t mean those same people never use pet names.”
Cool, nobody’s making that argument except you.
The OP doesn’t like how terms of endearments sound, thinks they sound forced.
A subsequent commenter is misrepresenting the OP by arguing
“Never using real names ≠ not using pet names”
which nobody is asserting.
and complaining
“I also have never met a couple that never calls each other by their given name.”
which nobody has said,
and
“That doesn’t mean those same people never use pet names.”
which again, nobody is saying except for that commenter.
they’re propping up straw men using absolutes to argue against because they don’t have any relevant answers for the OP or contributions to the thread.
In your first comment, in this thread, you asked “you’ve never met anyone in your life who uses pet names for their SO?”
I (and I believe the other people responding to you) don’t think that’s a reasonable interpretation of the comment you were responding to.
The top comment (with the double negative removed for clarity) said that Every couple that commenter knows in real life does use each others’ legal names. This does not suggest that those couples do not also use pet names, but your question implies that you think it does. This implication is what other commenters are responding to.
