Why Do We Use Cringey Words for Loved Ones? | Otherwords
From "kitty" to "lovebug," people across the world use very similar type of words for the people they love. What's behind this universal linguistic trend?
Otherwords is a PBS web series on Storied that digs deep into this quintessential human trait of language and finds the fascinating, thought-provoking, and funny stories behind the words and sounds we take for granted. Incorporating the fields of biology, history, cultural studies, literature, and more, linguistics has something for everyone and offers a unique perspective on what it means to be human.
Host: Erica Brozovsky, Ph.D.
Director/Producer: Siyi Chen
Creators/Producers: Andrew Matthews & Katie Graham
Writer: Taylor Behnke
Editor/Animation: Andrew Matthews
Executive Producer: Amanda Fox
Fact Checker: Yvonne McGreevy
Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing
Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell
Original Production Funding provided by Anne Ray Foundation
Stock Images from Shutterstock
Music from APM Music
Otherwords is a production of Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios.
© 2024 PBS. All rights reserved.
sources:
www.cambridge.org/core/journa...
www.scientificamerican.com/ar...
daily.jstor.org/the-language-...
www.nytimes.com/2023/02/11/st...
czasopisma.kul.pl/index.php/L...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1...
newrepublic.com/article/11871...
blogs.scientificamerican.com/....
schwa.byu.edu/files/2023/04/W...
www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/st...
www.bbc.com/news/magazine-227...
www.businessinsider.com/unusu...
When my son was a toddler, I used to call him my “Tiny Baby”. This shifted to “Tiny Baby Man” as he got a little older. One day, when he was about 10, he told me “That’s MISTER Tiny Baby Man to you.” So now he’s Mr Tinybabyman.
i'm for real crying right now ❤❤😭😭😭
"Significant Otter" is my favourite.
%100 👍
"With a dark side"
Did it all for the nookie 😤
@thomasparker6124 Nice one. Here, my Seal of approval.
@@solsystem1342 >:3
My name is Amber and my six year old son often calls me his "precious jewel". Mind you he also called me his "favourite butt cheek" the other day, which is somewhat less flattering
it's better than least favorite butt cheek
@@renatal.129😅
lol :J
I'm kinda surprised that they didn't get into the category of Insults of endearment, as TVTropes calls it. Monster Face, Ankle Biter, Trouble, Galoot... We use them mostly for siblings, dogs, and friends, but I certainly use Junkyard Dog for one with the same affection that I call another Baby Giraffe Princess.
At least it was the favorite one! 😄
In French, we sometimes use "ma puce" to affectionately refer to a little girl or a daughter. It literally translates to "my flea."
I love this one! My mum uses it for me too, and choufleur 😂
Seems slightly derogatory lol 😅
@@gabbywillis9746 Ah, "cabbage flower." Pretty!
@@MerchManDan /cauliflower 😂 it’s funny but quite common
Love that multiple languages were featured. It’s remarkable how common patterns are across cultures.
I love how putting Dr. B in a cat cafe brought out a little bit of cutesy-voice in her presentation. Absolutely apropos for the episode 💜
Dr. B is such a cutie herself! She is a great presenter.
I call my wife 'Damisela', spanish for 'Damsel'. She calls me 'Damiselo', literally 'Male Damsel'. Lol
KEEPER! ❤
When I had to use a wheelchair in high school, my Spanish teacher called me "princesa" because I took my "throne" with me wherever I went. The nickname stuck around for years whenever we'd run into each other even after I recovered enough to leave my "throne" behind. People couldn't figure out if it was favoritism or a sarcastic diss.
That is a really sweet way of cheering you up
Mine came from a lame pickup line I used to make him laugh... Everybody carries their cross.
Did it work? That’s what matters 😂
Give us the nickname but not the pickup line, i wanna try to work ot oit
@@MURDERPILLOW. It was just an overly confident "Hola que tal princessa?!" one time when I picked him up (I'm a small lady and he's tall asf), and so he nicknamed me "Princessa" till this day.
@@patrician3821 Too well I regret, the worst part is that now I'm too used it.
I absolutely loved the production on this one! Having Erica on sets and out in the world, rather than just against a green screen, brings a lot of dynamism to the video that really elevates it. It comes across with a lot of playfulness (not just because of the kitties!) due to the varying backdrops and the wardrobe changes. I super loved what was done here and want to give a hearty thanks and congrats on all the hard work everyone put in to make this happen! I'm sure this kind of thing can't happen with every video, but I still wanted to share how awesome I thought it was and I would definitely be excited to see it happen more in the future!
I do, too, and the "man on the street" interviews!
This was such a step up and it came outta no where. She is awesome!!!
Aye, completely. Wonderfully playful editing, dress, camera shots, location, etc. They clearly put a lot of effort into this one, and it shows!
There's also body parts, for lack of a better term. My eyes, my heart, my soul, my life. I guess they also come under valuables... In my friend group we started making fun of this by calling each other my spleen, my liver, my kidney
Dr Brozovsky is such a lovely linguist and host. The best word wizard there is!
One of my besties calls her kids "kidlets." Also, in older Mexican slang, Mango is used for someone really attractive.
Mango is still used in Cuba as a way of saying that someone is very attractive
I believe that "kidlets" is a play on "cutlets," which would connect to "lambchop" as meat-based pet name.
@@ethanmckinney203 Or "piglets" as another baby animal
Our parents' pet names for my sisters and me were tinged with a patina of bitterness. My older sister Valarie was called "The Accident" Me and my younger sister Shannon were called "The Other Two Accidents." My homelife was so warm and loving.
🫂
Jeez , that's awful. My family joked and called my little brother oops because they found out they were expecting him the day of my dad's vasectomy and they would joke that I ruined their divorce cause they split up for a year then got remarried when my mom was 4 months along with me but we didn't feel blamed for being born. I hope you've built a life with more warmth and love than what you dealt with being called accidents.
I'm sorry yours was said so negatively. It didn't have to be.
The siblings of my best friend in high school were more than decade older than him and I heard him called “the accident” by his parents a couple of times. However, they would follow up and then call him “the pleasant surprise”.
@bbartky as someone who was told by my mom "after Mike (the oldest), you were all surprises", I can promise you that being called "surprise" doesn't necessarily make it any better than being called an "accident". There were two or three years between each of my four siblings and 5 years between the next youngest sibling and myself. I never felt any less loved for it, even though I knew who the real "surprise" had been. Remember Bob Ross- "happy little accidents".
Loved the "in the streets" cuts. It's awesome when you to describe linguistics from around the world, hearing first hand accounts is that much better. :)
I just LOVE when Shakespeare's little cartoon appears! Lights up my heart ❤
The de facto mascot of the show lol
The Morse Code on the banner in the intro stands for PBS.......nice touch.
Never had too many pet names for my wife. But my pets on the other hand...
Same here! My boyfriend is just his name, the cats on the other hand...
I have given up naming pets. After squish the fish , and dogs with the unfortunate names of Squeaker , Puppers and Graceless. Now my kids name the pets ( we have a park near by that people abandon pets in at least once a week so we foster and help rehome our foundlings with family and friends ) and right now we have Big Guy , Dude and Buddy. Apparently my kids also have a penchant for weird names.
@@taylortanner37 I love squish the fish
Same. I use just the standard "hon," "babe," "sweetie," and such for my partners. My cat, on the other hand, has a good dozen pet names, some derived from her name and some are just nonsense syllables.
@@philiplathrop9250 . My favorite memory of Squish was my niece asking to kiss the fish. I thought she was going to just kiss the tank glass but no she stuck her face in the water and cause part of treating Squish's side ulcer required handling him he actually swam up to her submerged face and she got to kiss Squish the Fish.
My parents chose "petit poussin en or" for me, which roughly translates to "golden baby chick" lol. It's so interesting to know that languages/cultures around the world love cute, small and expensive things so much they want to name the people who are important in their life after them! Also, the production on this video is chef's kiss! 10/10
I personally think we should bring back "lamb chop"
Sorry but when I hear 'lamb chop' as a name all I can see is a puppet.
Only if they call their partner mint jelly 😂😂
@@hannahrobbins1017 🤣
It's the nickname that never ends...
This is the song that never ends! Yes it goes on and on, my friends. Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they’ll continue singing it forever just because This is the song that never ends! Yes it goes on and on, my friends. …
I have a friend who calls me "sweetie," "sweetheart," "kiddo," etc. We are not and never have been romantically involved, but it still makes me feel loved, and, specifically, cared for. There's a sense of protection that I think can come from a pet name, too. Reinforcing our social connections can bring a sense of security.
The Dutch diminutive suffix -je is used EVERYWHERE, from names to pretty much any noun you can think of. 'Een gezellig huisje' would be a cozy little house, for example.
Spanish does that with "-ito and -ita". ...Making everything little and "cute".
Afrikaans does the same with "-(t)jie" or "-ie" (depending on word-final letter); Japanese with "-chan" (mainly); Portuguese with "-ina" & "-ino" (depending on gender). 😊
@@psiphyre I think Portuguese is -inho,-inha
Ah! You're right! I forgot the 'h' after the 'n' ... Thanks for that. 👍
@@psiphyre 👍
Love how you incorporated more languages than just English
This is an interesting topic. I love the diversity among the interviewees and linguistic examples - it really demonstrates how universal the phenomenon is! Also, I'm going to try to play "familect" in my next game of Scrabble.
the visuals, cinematography and editing are so nice
The change to include cats, plants, and quick on-the-street interviews was a huge bonus to the production value and the topic!
In my family everyone is "Dork" and I love it
That's hilarious, I love that
Good stuff Dr Brozovsky, love the production on this.
Cat in lap at 8:33 ''Yes, that's all very important, I'm sure... but... hey?! How about some scratchums, please?!""
Meanwhile, in the Southern U.S., a complete stranger might call you "sugar" or "honey".
This is easily one of my favourite Otherwords! Well done to all who put it together!
Beeboo, beebee, lovey, lovebug, babycakes, babes; only her actual name if we're arguing LOL
I REALLY love this "on the road" format!
In German, the umlout (ö,ü,ä) and maybe chen suffix are used to make words diminutive such as hündchen which is puppy or mädchen for girl
Bitte nenne deine Tochter nicht Hündchen.
First syllable of first name + chan is probably the most common pattern in Japan
I love that this video had some interviews and different settings! Really upped the production on this, I loved it!
I can't pay attention to what Dr. B says... I got so distracted by those adorable cats... keep rewinding to listen and forget because those cats are sooo cute!
This man-on-the-street style was perfect for this topic! Love it
im loving the setting of this video its so cute! and also this was so interesting i never thought about it till now
My brother started calling me one little female goat when we were teenagers. Nobody knows why… in Portuguese it is “Uma cabrita”. Through the years ( about 40 😂) it became “uma”. He is a most beloved brother and I like my pet name a lot. He is the only one who calls me this. People call me Patty or Patinha ( female little duck - in Portuguese Pata). I believe it’s my destiny to be called for animals 😂
A friend of mine is expecting, and has been calling her future child 'tater tot'. You bet we are going to call that kid tater tot for their entire life 😂.
I love all of your Otherwords videos !! I also love that you did part of this video while sitting amongst cats, and as seen at the end of the video you obviously like cats a lot. More than that, I was waiting for you to bring up the term familects, which you had brought up in a previous video, and you did -- thank you for connecting everything together !! Like always!
This new presentation style is killing it, love it!
Loved the interviews for this episode!
I had a long term roommate I called "babe" despite her being 6 years older than I am. My wife's nephew called her Bibi they think because he heard either her mother or his mother call her Vivi. "V" can be hard to say as a young child. After spending a weekend with one of the nephew or her niece I would call her Bibi for a while. However, we had no 'pet' names in my family. I always kind of wanted one...
7:50 is really speaking to me. time to annoy all of my friends with the nicknames i've learned from this video. I'm not letting alloromantic people have all the fun of cringe terms of endearment
In Spanish, it's typical to give a family member a nickname based on physical attributes ("flaco", which can be good or bad depending on which country you're in). In the States, though, we're usually discouraged from that. And yet, my sister, who had big ears, got "Zippy" after the stuffed chimpanzees or "Barney" after Barney Rubble. To this day, she will answer to both. I got called Chub Chub
Wake up babe, there’s a new Otherwords!!!
The aesthetic of this video is on point, Doc 😚👌
I was beaming this whole video. The biggest smile from ear to ear learning about all of this. With all the things going on in the world right now, this reminded me that at the end of the day we're all human. I absolutely adore this series and am so grateful for new content!! Keep 'em coming 🙏
Oh! You're in Austin!! Hello! This was a super interesting episode. I've wondered about nicknames and how they came about. Some interesting Classical facts: a few Greek names that we still use today fall into this category, like Philip, "love", and Melissa, "honey". And a lot of famous Romans are known to us today by their nicknames, because it was REALLY common for names to be repeated in families, so many of them differentiated themselves by their nicknames. For example, Cicero, which means "chickpea" - supposedly his mother called him that and it stuck! Caligula means "little boots," because he would visit his father in the army and parade around in a little soldier's outfit. "Cincinnatus" means "curly haired", "Rufus" means "redhead", "Aquila" means "beak-like nose", "Africanus" is the one who led a successful campaign in North Africa...
Love this episode so much! Everything feels so bubbly and cheerful as it should be according to the topic. Great works !!!
Amazing style from Dr Brozovsky on this one. And super informative as always.
To this day I still don't know what "pusa" that my mom called me means. I asked a bunch of Romanians and they hadn't even heard of it, but the closest we could determine it might've been a dialectal variant if the word for "doll"
In my language that translates to "cat"
@@Sonic-ew4mm Romanian also has that kind of word for cat, but it's pisică. We called our cats that all the time! (Although when it was from Mom they got wary when they heard it because Mom often followed it up by picking them up by the armpits and squishing their faces into her kisses screaming about how she was going to eat them (in the cute aggression way). I'm like Mom, they're hissing and trying to scratch and bite you, they clearly don't like it, and Mom's like I don't care they're so cute)
Another commenter here was French and said she was called “Ma puce” by her mom, which means “my flea”. Maybe your nickname was not 100% Romanian?
or maybe spanish like pupusa
@@sasentaiko Maybe, but the only other language in her family growing up was German. She did also speak Italian, though, but not much once she moved to the US, and that was just an interest of hers, we're not Italian at all, just Romanian (my great grandparents lived during the time of the Austrian Hungarian empire, so they were Romanian, but being on the upper class side they spoke German, first I even think.)
OH SHE'S GOING OUT!!!!
SHE'S GIVING PRODUCTION VALUE
Fantastic video! From hearing what people are called to all the kittens, the absolute sincerity of this video was heartwarming.
She switched outfits like 10 times throughout the whole video, and all of them were wonderful!
She does love big earrings.
Great video!! Love the location and the editing too!
tamagogata no kao isn't a term of endearment, it's just a description, similar to heart-shaped face in english
Yeah, and with 8 syllables, way too long even if it was a term of endearment 😅. Come to think of it, Japanese doesn't really use much except for the suffixes like -chan, -chin. And the ultimate no-suffix given name!
been called a senorito when being lazy for a chore 🤣🤣
It was the old Spanish for gentleman/dandy
@@benjaminacuna8013 yes. But in filipino, youget called senorito/ senorita for being lazy around the house lol
@@jonathan0225yes, because they are joking about the fact that you act like someone of the nobility, who has servants to clean up after them 😅
@@LindaC616 yes. Exactly. Lol
The editing, effects, and on location shots were top tier
So well made! Loved the production on this one! Interesting patterns across languages! Thx Dr. B & team!
!
oooh I'm loving this new format!!
I'm just here to comment on the Texas wall mural and the dozens of Texas mugs.
These videos are always great, but I'm really impressed by the production quality in this one
Adore this new format!! 😍😍 such an engaging video
I was kinda surprised with the production and it was a good surprise. I liked the outfit and background changes for every category, how they included "on the streets", and hey tiny Shakespeare showed up as well.
Loved this video, every upload from you guys makes me smile, but this one especially so
My exh used to call me "poopy pants" and wouldn't stop when I asked him to. So I started calling him "skidmark" (after the skidmarks he left in his.....poopy pants). BOY did he HATE that and shut it down quick. And then he stopped calling me "poopy pants." He and his skidmarks are someone else's problem now. My parents are German and never called me any pet names or nicknames. I gave myself a nickname as a little girl (44 now), and my dad says it every once in a while, but it's not exactly directed towards me. It's more of an arms-length joke by someone who wants to be close to me but cannot allow himself to be.
There’s something really beautiful behind utilizing specific language for those we cherish the most. Entirely reconstructing our sentences and hand-selecting the words we choose JUST to show our love for them. This video made me surprisingly emotional because that’s something extra special- thank you for that!
Wow, loved this episode. Loved the interviews and all the pets...
Loving the multiple locations! A really visually engaging episode. One of my children, Oliver, called himself Bing as a young child. Whilst ‘Bing’ has not survived (he is now in his 20s), derivations of it have… he is called Bealzibubblebing within the family. But the real ‘pet names’ are reserved for my doggos: one of them (Buttercup) is regularly referred to as ‘shidnert’ when she does something really silly. Her sister, Daisy gets ‘daisy cakes’, ‘cakey’, or ‘queen cake’. And my 3 metre python is regularly referred to as ‘my wee man’.
Really loved seeing Dr. B out in the world, and getting to hear from people on the street led to so many interesting stories!
Love the production quality on this ep
Going outside and talking to people was not on my 2024 bingo card for Storied, but we love to see the growth.
Such a great episode!! And even more fun to read through the comments on this one, with everyone sharing their pet names 😂😂❤️
Aside from being a sweet episode, I absolutely loved both the varied locations AND the featuring of street interviews sprinkled throughout the video! The cat cafe (?) was just way too cute & cozy 😭
Omg I love that the otherwords series is getting more high budget
Loved this episode!
This video was so fun and cute! I loved the interviews and the various sets.
As someone who lives in Austin and is learning Mandarin I thoroughly enjoyed spotting all the Austin landmarks and reading the 汉字 that popped up.
Beautiful episode, gj poduction team.
Loved seeing so much of Austin in this video! Love my city 💜
Early on, this video brought a certain song by THE ARCHIES to my mind - when you were talking about people using terms for sweets to refer to people they care about. Later on, when you talked about people using terms for money to refer to their loved ones, I was thinking about the 1990s X-Men cartoon where Gambit frequently uses the term “Chéri” -- “chér” meaning “expensive” and “-i” being the suffix of posessiveness - basically meaning “my expensive”. I guess that being the French equivalent of “my dear”.
Dr Shao mei mei, you are such a cutesy pie with your different outfits and backgrounds in this episode.
As a Thai speaker, I am not sure about Chang Noi (little elephant) haha. It is actually a slang for penn*s. Double name is also a thing in Thai language.
its fun to see who these type of words are used across languages and cultures also really fun to see Dr. Brozovsky do these type of on the street interviews, also all the cats and animation are really fun
When I see a Dr. B video, I click amazingly fast.
I enjoyed this, but was so so distracted by those cute cats 🥰🥰🥰
GULAB also seems to follow the BOUBA KIKI phenomenon
I've never used pet names in my relationships. It just never happend. The most popular pet name in my language is "Schatz"(treasure) and when my colleague said something like "Your first boyfriend is Schatz, your second boyfriend is Schatz, your third boyfriend is Schatz... it kinda loses meaning over time" that really stuck in my head.
What about insults as pet names? Stink, boo-boo, big head, dookie… those are terms of endearment too! 😄
Erica, I love your earrings! This was a great video!
Cats make everything better- even excellent videos like this one! Subscribed!
When I think of “cringe” pet names, I think more of people who call their romantic partner “mommy” or “daddy.” Like, *that* is cringe.
I personally can't handle "Baby" but maybe that is because in my language, it means that you are an overreacting, sad little crybaby. Baby is not a positive word for an adult.
Every time a woman calls her husband/boyfriend "daddy" the ghost of Sigmund Freud gets stronger.
If they had kids, it could be what their kids grew up calling them.
It’s not cringe… it’s sex play… light BSDM. Don’t knock it till you try it 😉
@@oktober-vh6gl I spent years as a professional BDSM sex worker. It’s still cringe and gross and weird.
I might have missed some parts of the video while watching the cats... 😀 - Loved it, though!
I think it's really a cute way of differentiating relationships too. Like, for example my metamor calls my girlfriend "darling" while I call her my "love bugs" it's a subtle change but it reflects how we're both close to her but our relationships are not interchangeable. Like, with my other partner. I might call them "cutie, kitty, girl, or big guy" depending on their gender at the time and how diminutive they want to be treated❤
Excellent video, and I love the cats!
My husband and I most definitely have our own familect, one that's almost shared with our son BUT not all of it. I'm very fond of making up nonsense words, or mimicking "gibberish" from some of my favorite movies (specifically this started with The Dark Crystal and Aughra's various "words"). So I still do that, towards my husband; there are maybe half a dozen "words" that are just for him. And there are others for my cat, my kid, my brother - not all of them consistent, ha! I've even seen a thing between my brother and his first cousin where words weren't even involved - they were "talking" using percussion against their own bodies, claps and thumping their bellies and such. It was VERY WEIRD but also really quite amazing! People are able and willing to make meaning out of ANYthing!
Love the change up! Lovely cutie pie of a video. Those teeny tiny iddy biddy props as well.