Ala sayang ucuk ucuk

A term of endearment is a word or phrase used to address and/or describe a person, animal or inanimate object for which the speaker feels love or affection. Terms of endearment are used for a variety of reasons, such as parents addressing their children and lovers addressing each other.


(definition taken from Professor Wikipedia-Serba-Tahu)

And it is very interesting to observe how these terms of endearment vary from one language to another. In English, most terms of endearment are concrete nouns that have favorable associations, either with a sweet taste or the nature of the relationship. If you notice, a lot of the words are associated with sweet sugary desserts:
1-pie
2-cutie pie
3-muffin
4-love muffin
5-honey
6-pumpkin
7-cupcake
8-sugar
9-sweetie

All this high intake of sweet words of love is supposed to elevate the nature of your relationship to another level. So if you wanted to lose weight, would you call your other meaningful half "my low-fat diet cupcake''? Tak kena pelempang ke kalau cakap macam tu?

In French terms of endearment are more likely to be associated with cute animals or rather an assortment of barnyard animals (for the most part lah) that make you want to go ''Ooohhh you cute little bobo''. Like rabbits or kittens. And associated with the notion of love, of course. Bukankah bahasa Perancis itu bahasa romantika de amora par excellence? Here are some examples:
1-mon amour (my love)
2-mon bébé (my baby)
3-mon petit bébé (my little baby)
4-mon petit bébé d'amour (my little baby of love)
5-mon ange (my angel)
6-mon petit ange (my little angel)
7-mon coeur (my heart)
8-mon petit coeur (my little heart)
9-ma belle (my beautiful)
10-ma biche (my doe)
11-ma bichette (my little doe)
12-mon canard (my duck)
13-mon chaton (my kitten)
14-mon lapin (my rabbit)
15-mon petit lapin (my little rabbit)
16-mon petit chat (my little cat)

In Bahasa Melayu (or Bahasa Malaysia? Do you want to emphasize on its source of origine or its role in national unity?) it's even more complicated. Try as I might, I can't really seem to find the common factor that binds these terms:
1-intan
2-payung
3-gunung
4-berlian

Jadi apakah faktor persamaan keempat-empat perkataan di atas? Nilai harga yang tiggi? Saiz? Kekerasan? You tell me.

Well at least we still have ''sayang'' or ''ayang'' (dengan sedikit nasalized intonation for the manja effect). But we also have ''bucuk'' or ''ucuk'' especially when talking to babies and toddlers. Don't ever say that to an adult. He or she might get offended or paranoid ingatkan dia ada B.O.

So that is why it is important that we know more than one language. We need variety. A whole load of it. I do not want to be called a berlian for the rest of my life. And if you call me payung I will make sure you have one sticking up your measly little kawah gunung.