It has become one of the most common terms of endearment used by couples, but 'babe' has been voted the most hated pet name for women. The term, made popular by Sonny and Cher's Sixties hit I Got You Babe, come out on top in a new study.

“Babe(寶貝)”一次雖然是情侶間最常用于表示親昵的詞，但最近一項調查顯示，女性最討厭“babe”這個昵稱。“babe”一詞曾因為Sonny和 Cher's Sixties的名曲《I Got You Babe》而為人熟知，但在最新的一項調查中被投票為女性最討厭的昵稱。

‘Sweetcheeks’, ‘snookums’ and ‘muffin’ were also a definite no no, but terms such as ‘gorgeous’, ‘beautiful’ and ‘lovely’ were considered acceptable.

“Sweetcheeks(甜妞)”“snookums(小甜心)”“muffin(可指帥哥/美女)”等昵稱都是女性雷區，但“迷人的”“美麗的”“可愛的”則可以接受。

Americanised nicknames like ‘baby girl’ and ‘baby doll’ are also unpopular, along with ‘pudding’ and ‘pumpkin’. The research also revealed that only one in five Britons calls their partner by their full name the majority of the time, with the same number admitting to using a private nickname when no-one else is around.

美式的昵稱如“baby girl(小寶貝)”“baby doll(洋娃娃)”，還有“pudding(布丁)”“pumpkin(小南瓜)”也不受女性歡迎。該調查同時披露，只有五分之一的英國人會在大多數時間叫另一半的全名，同樣還有五分之一的人承認會在沒有別人在場時叫另一半的私密昵稱。

Many of the men who took part in the study also confessed to referring to their partner with terms they would only use while she was out of earshot. ‘The Mrs’ or ‘the wife’ were still used by some men, while one in six quietly referred to their partner as ‘the boss’.

參與調查的很多男士也承認另一半不在身邊時會以特別稱謂來指代另一半，比如一些人常用的“The Mrs(夫人)”“The wife(妻子)”，而且還有六分之一的男士悄悄承認會喊他們的另一半“the boss(領導/老板)”。

‘Her indoors’ was also a popular name for an absent wife or girlfriend, while one in 14 brave men had dubbed their loved one ‘The ball and chain’. 'Pet names between partners are usually used as a way to show a little regular affection but some are clearly better than others,’ says a spokesman for Siteopia.com, who commissioned the study. ‘Whether using the more common terms like “babe” or “darling” or some of the more modern terms, the research shows the ones we choose for our partner can have very differing impacts.

“Her indoors(當家的)”也是英國男士在妻子或女朋友不在時常用的稱呼，還有1/14的勇敢男士給自己的愛侶授予了“The ball and chain(甜蜜的枷)”的稱號。“情侶間的昵稱是用來表達日常感情的方式，但有些昵稱明顯比其他的好。”安排此次調查的Siteopia.com網站的一位發言人說道，“研究表明，無論是使用諸如‘babe(寶貝)’‘darling(親愛的)’還是其他更時尚的稱謂，我們為我們的另一半所選擇的昵稱會有截然不同的效果。”

'There’s a lot of power in a name and each one throws up different connotations so it’s important to know which ones will flatter a partner and which are definitely not going to have the right effect.’

昵稱包含了很多言外之意，每個昵稱都有不同的暗示，所以弄清楚哪些昵稱會使另一半開心，而哪些可能起反作用很重要。

One in ten husbands and boyfriends admitted they let their partner call them a soppy nickname they would dread their friends ever finding out. Meanwhile one in ten Britons surveyed revealed that they were left embarrassed when others discovered their private nickname, with 44 per cent accidentally using it when others were around.

十分之一的男士承認會讓他們的另一半給自己取一個情意綿綿以至于不敢讓朋友知道的昵稱。與此同時，十分之一的受訪英國男士透露，曾有被他人知道這些私密昵稱而讓自己處于尷尬境地的經歷，44%都是碰巧在其他人在場的情況下使用這樣的昵稱。

‘Of course personal nicknames, when born out of affection, are a nice thing for partners to have between one another,’ added the spokesman. ‘Although as we’ve seen they aren’t always names we want shared publicly. ‘There’s a lot to be read from a name, and sometimes using too strongly cliched or overly-soppy pet names for someone we like will just be seen as insincere.’

“當然，那些本身充滿愛意的個人昵稱對于情侶是一件好事，雖然這些昵稱并不是我們愿意在大眾面前分享的。”該發言人補充道，“一個名字能解讀出很多含義，有時候用太刻板或太肉麻的昵稱反而會顯得不夠真誠。”

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（來源：滬江英語? 編輯：Julie）