Men Are Husbands, Not "Hubbys"

I'm with you! Its annoying! I llike wiffle though for wife!! It makes me chuckle!! Whats more annoying than Hubby is Hubs!!

You must hate all my posts then. Husband sounds like super official or something to me. Hubs is a lot shorter and more causal. I really don't think he'd care either way. Oh and also pretty much all my posts that reference him are about how awesome he is, so not sure why that would be seen as derogetory? *shrug* whatever.

I am not married, but I generally dislike terms like "hubby" or "baby", but also leetspeak, textese and internet slang. I find hypocorism irritating in general, but am guilty of having used terms like "lol" on facebook because 99% of the people who I know on-line find baby-talk amusing and sign of friendship, so in certain cases I will use terms that generally irritate me personally to get an emotion or sentiment across.

It would be interesting to find out if certain MBTI types are more likely to use internet slang and baby talk than other types? My guess is that the ExFJ and ExFP types are more likely to than other types. Not sure though.

Generally, though, I just ignore baby talk because if I let something that insignificant bother me, I would be much more "messed up" than I already am. I can't speak to people who use terms like that in a condescending manner, because the people I know who speak baby-talk generally use it to convey endearment and "love".

My "boyfriend" (which is in itself an irritating label- does anyone have a better one? We are more than simple platonic friends, but not married- I am 29 year old female and he is 20.5 years older than I am so "boyfriend" sounds dumb to me for a few reasons)... he sometimes calls me "cutie" or "sweetie". At first I just rolled my eyes, and now I take it as a sign that he is having a good day. He is a much more emotional and affectionate person than I am and assumes that if you don't reciprocate to some degree, it means you are "cold" or "don't care" (intellectually he knows this is not the case, but doesn't seem to understand on a visceral gut level since we have had a discussion about his emotions and me being "distant" more than a few times now). Now, sometimes, to let him know I care about to also highlight the fact that I find baby-talk annoying I will call him "snookums" in a syrupy tone of voice (obviously meant as a joke), which makes him laugh and feel like he is being acknowledged, but also doesn't allow him to forget that the "love of his life" (his phrase, not mine) as a bleepin' robot.


Has anyone noticed (I haven't read any studies about this) that people who tend to be more overly affectionate (both verbally and physically, as in hugging excessively) also tend to be people who feel "missed" or "lonely" more often. 99% of the time I talk to my "buddy" (what I call him for lack of a better word), he initiated the phone call. He'll ask me straight up if I miss him, to which I usually respond "No. I just spoke/saw you 1/2/3/4 days ago."

What some people think of as affection, others view as patronization, Likewise, many people who I think are overly affectionate and sentimental assume I am cold and uncaring. Finding a balance (if you care about the other person, and they, you) is important.

I really only find it annoying when people do that when they're not married. I'm like, wait...you're calling your boyfriend your Hubby? Don't you...need...to...marry him first? hehe! Besides that, just don't tell me your "preggers" because THAT one annoys the crap out of me.

Two people who are not legally bound by marriage can be legally bound together by law in some areas of the world. Living together can offer some of the very same 'rights' and 'benefits' as if they were married. Laws that govern this relationship are typically provincial (in Canada) or governed by the state (in the USA) This is referred to as living "common law" or a "domestic partnership". That is not girlfriend/boyfriend. So, in reality the terms "Husband' or "Wife" .. or any derivative thereof, CAN legitimately be used when two people are not married., as long as they are living together as a family.

No such law exists here, and there are no rights for cohabiting people, there is no legal status for 'common law partners' in England

all that matters is two things: 1) the intent, and 2) whether or not the person it is directed to is OK with it.

my dad is michael, but don't call him mike. it's not his name, and it offends him even if the name mike isn't offensive on a stand alone basis.

it doesn't matter what my wife and i call each other, as long as WE are ok with it. it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.

Interesting. Care to comment in this thread? http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/395377-the-n-word

i was gearing my answer toward "hubby" but i suppose i should have added a #3: foul language is not OK in public. if you want to call someone the n word, keep it to a private setting (even if the recipient is OK with it). i have three young kids, and i don't want them learning any foul or LEGITIMATELY derogatory terms. hubby, wifey, etc. aren't foul language.

Agreed. The terms "significant other" and "better half" are strange to me. Maybe they mean "significant other (person in one's life)" as opposed to all of the other, apparently insignificant people? Everyone in my life is significant to some degree as far as I am concerned (without getting overly philosophical about it).

When I break it down, the questions that sort of seems to best identify how I feel about someone is "how much would my life be disrupted if said person was to up and die?" If I'd spend longer than a few hours or days grieving, the person is somewhat significant. But by that standard, my pet cat is more "significant" to me than most people I know, including most of my "blood" family.

Ah, life. It's so strange.

When I was in a college fraternity, the old joke was it was a "fraternity" not a "frat" because you would never shorten the word "country." (Maybe I have the joke wrong...that's what college partying will do!)

Anyway, as a man, I do not like it when women refer to their spouse as their "hubby." I'm sure in most cases it's meant well, but in many it's not. I'm talking about the women who don't particular like their husbands (and I've talked to some of you so I know you're out there!)

But either way, I find "hubby" to be a touch condescending as a man. I have a feeling most women would feel the same way if all of them were referred to as "wifey" in each instance.

I realize most of you mean it as a term of endearment and it's shorter, but that doesn't mean it can't be nails on a chalkboard to me. Could I be the ONLY person that feels this way?

(Let the flaming begin.....)

i use it online to refer to my husband instead of using his name. Another forum I used to frequent referred to loved ones as DH (dear husband) or DD (dear daughter) etc. Since I don't see that used here I use hubby or hubs...just to shorten it up a big ol 2 letters. In real life I do an even more annoying thing and call him by our family nickname instead of his first name.

I'm impressed with the staying power of this thread and people's interest in it...

I'm impressed with "hypocorism" - had to look that up. Very cool word. Thank you, bexominglex!

OOOH! I like it!

when i get married, i'm gonna say hubby. its funny.

I refer to my husband as hubby in texts and forums etc, but to his face I call him Handsome Man or Babes and he calls me Gorgeous or Babes; we call each other this every day without fail...it now sounds odd if he does call me by my real name!! Just thought I'd throw that one out there, I'm sure some of you will be sticking your fingers down your throats now but it works perfectly for us

When I hear the word "hubby" I get the mental image of a tugboat mixed with a bumper car in my mind. And bath toys. I am not sure why. I mean, the sound of the word could be related to tubs, hub caps, sub(marines)... if someone was actually named Hubby I imagine he'd be very round and make beeping noises.

there are a lot of women posting here, when they should be making sammiches

OOOOO! that'll get you a bunch of punches in the arm!! LOL! Very cute! Thanks for the laugh!

its actually HUBS MCGUBS

If people on MFP were a little more "with it" we could all say DH which is much easier but god forbid we start that then we'll have 10 threads a day asking what's DH stand for? just like the people who constantly ask what bump is, UGH!

dumb husband?

I call my wife..wifey and she calls me hubby all the time. Neither I nor she think its demeaning in any way.. I guess your intitled to your opinion but just saying not everyone will agree with you..