A good cry from The Wonder Years. Letting your freak flag fly. Interesting vaginas. Did Britney Spears break up? 8 steps to wreck a relationship. Bikram Yoga can produce better erections. Some pick-up lines for 2010. Renaming lady blue balls. Nicknaming your dudes. Dumping dudes because they're not perfect, a reflections. Thoughts on Big Love.
In Scrabble, drawing a blank is a generally a good thing, but when rocking your best game at some Hector or Melissa a blank could turn any good first impression into the worst transgression. For some goofy reason, people really like it when you remember their name… particularly when you'd like them to be screaming yours at some point. Forgetting a person's name is one of the most lethal, self-inflicted wounds in the dating game. Here's how to remember it.
I am well aware that this predilection elicits a giant "ewwww" from most of the sex-having population, but I have always liked a little "daddy talk" in the bedroom. No, I don't want to have sex with MY father, but using the word, loaded as it is with connotations of power and taboo, gets me unapologetically hot.
Single women always give nicknames to their flings and crushes - the most notorious being Mr. Big. Why?
While other people's nicknames may make you sick, it is actually making them closer. Researchers say secret language and cutesy pet names foster closeness in couples. So instead of branding that nauseatingly adorable couple sappy, try taking a lesson from those baby-talking yoyos.
To the couple who gets on the dirty, overcrowded subway and feels the need to look into each other’s eyes, whisper sweet nothings, and make out for all of three stops - save it.
You ladies nickname us according to our jobs, our sexual proclivities, or some flaw in our character, as if the act of nicknaming is some preemptive, passive-aggressive revenge tactic. It should be noted that a nickname is the polar opposite of a pet name; essentially, one is accentuating the negative, the other the positive... Women objectify men when they nickname them. Nicknaming a man reduces him to a character that women use in their narratives where they are eternally victimized by dudes who fail to live up to their superficial, fantasy definition of romantic fulfillment.
"Quit playing games with my heart," sang the Backstreet Boys, in 1996. They clearly hadn't been involved in any long-term relationships—playing games with your spouse may actually be a sign of a strong bond. After being together with someone for a long time you start to develop an inner world—inside jokes, funny nicknames, code words and games—these are understandings that outsiders don't share: a special, partnered intimacy. What friendly competitions do you have with your mate?
A Times Magazine piece this weekend argues that teasing is a natural part of being human and, towards the end of the piece, it touches on teasing as a part of romantic relationships. Studies have found that couples who have lots of nicknames and silly phrases they use together have more fulfilling and happier unions. Partners who can poke fun at each other during a fight end up feeling closer after the conflict than couples who don't tease during arguments.
What terms should a new couple use to refer to each other? Are they "boyfriend-and-girlfriend"? "Partners"? "Significant others"? Some think of their relationship as so exceptional that it demands an exceptional word. Barbara Wallraff explores what's in a name or a nickname or a pet name and what they say about the couples who throw them around.
