One day, my brother in laws got home and was greeted by his mother who calls him "my duck", in French. I don't know why it made me laugh. I just couldn't associate him, a grown up man with this endearment term, although it is just an affectionate name from a mother to a son, just like "sweet heart" in English.
I realized that the Asians have been imitating a lot of endearment terms from English, but it is mostly used between couples, like "darling, sweet heart...". I have not yet heard an Asian mother calls her kid like that, at least not those in my social circle.
I don't know whether I will one day call my kid some French endearment terms like "ma puce (my flea)", "mon chou (my cabbage)", "mon lapin (my rabbit)"..., but surely I won't call him/her mon canard (my duck) or mon poulet (my chick). The reason? Well, if you know the Chinese culture well, duck and hen have double meaning...
Duck = male prostitute
chicken = prostitute
How could I call my own child "prostitute"?
I think different culture different meaning
ReplyDeleteI have been calling my little one 'ma puce' 'ma pucinette' 'mon petit coeur' 'ma petite crevette'. ;) It just come naturally.
ReplyDeleteHehe This is very cute. "My flea" sounds really strange, at least the rest could be something delicious... Nice blog.
ReplyDeleteI call my bf chéri..
ReplyDelete:)
hahahahahha mon dieu! Ducks & Chicken! Most of time when I cursed it's 'merde!' But now with a son, I had to be more caution as he picks up words really fast.
ReplyDeletehahahahahha this is too hilarious, love the part about ducks and chicken too.
ReplyDelete