Yep, I've become that person.
I've become the woman who calls passing acquaintances "honey". You all know the type I'm talking about, they grate on you with their overly familiar terms of endearment and vaguely patronising manner, while you just know the only reason they're calling you that is either because they've forgotten what your name actually is, or because they want to impress on you just how young, naive and stupid you are.
It's the female version of when a guy calls someone "pal" or "buddy"
Poor bloke, he didn't seem offended by my slip of the tongue, but I could tell he was a bit taken aback. Did he think I was being condescending? Or worse, hitting on him? He was nice enough to just ignore it, and its not like we're the sort of neighbours who are in and out of each other's houses, so I suppose it's not really an issue. It'll blow over, and next time I'll just have to try and restrain myself from calling him "darling" or something equally embarrassing.
When I really thought about it though, I realised this isn't a new development. I've been calling friends pet names for years. A "dear" here, a "sweetheart" there, it all seems so innocent until you find yourself talking to the guy at the service station like he's your husband.
I did think about stopping, quitting cold turkey, but if I'm being completely honest I'm not sure I really want to stop. There's something nice about using those terms with the people you love to bits, especially when they don't even blink at it, they just say one back at you.
Maybe I just need to stop fighting the inevitable. I'm an endearment user, and the sooner I accept that the better.
So if you ever meet me and I call you "honey", just go with it. I promise I'm not coming on to you.
