What do you call your partner - darling, sweetheart, babe? I have been called a little owl, a swan and even a “panda-fish.” No, I’m not a supernatural, shape-shifting creature or a character in a children’s storybook. I’ve just been in a few relationships where cutesy, affectionate nicknames emerged as inside jokes.

你是如何稱呼你的伴侶的？親愛的，甜心，寶貝？我曾獲得過小貓頭鷹，小天鵝，甚至“熊貓魚兒”這樣的愛稱。然而我并不是超自然生物，也不是異形怪或童話里的角色。我只不過談過幾次戀愛，這些可愛，親昵的稱呼成為了戀人之間的小玩笑。

Turns out, there are many more inventive terms of endearment used around the world, including 'egg with eyes', 'my little cabbage' and 'cute nose'.

其實，在世界各地人們有許多更富創意的愛稱用語，包括“長眼睛的小雞蛋”，“我的小包菜”，“可愛的小鼻鼻”。

Plenty of my friends have developed nicknames with their romantic partners. I asked the question on Facebook and got a broad assortment of answers: former boyfriends who knew each other as “Tiger and Teddy.” An American man who dated a Chinese woman told me he called her “Popo,”,which means “wife” or “broken broken,” depending on your intonation – and she called him “Benben,” which he says means something like “dumb dumb,” referring to his lackluster mastery of the Chinese language at the time.

我的許多朋友也和戀人之間相互取了昵稱。我在社交網上也問過網友相關的問題，得到五花八門的回答：一對男同情侶相互稱呼為“小腦腐和小泰迪”。一個與中國女子談戀愛的美國男子告訴我，他叫她“老婆（/破破）”，根據不同的語調，意指“妻子”或“被破壞的東西”。而她叫他“笨笨”，他說意思是“蠢笨的”，意指他那時中文學得很差。

There seem to be a variety of languages with pet names, too. According to the website of the popular language-learning software Rosetta Stone, the French say “Mon Petit Chou” (my little cabbage or cream puff), the Russians say “Vishenka” (cherry), the Dutch call girlfriends “Dropje” (candy) and in Brazil you can say “Meu Chuchu,” where “chuchu” is a vegetable. In Spain I heard the term “Media Naranja,” meaning half-orange, suggesting that the romantic partners are two halves of the whole.

很多國家的語言中都有這樣的昵稱。據一款很受歡迎的網上語言學習軟件，Rosetta Stone提供的資料可知，法國人的愛稱有“Mon Petit Chou”（意為我的小包菜，或者我的小泡芙），俄國人的愛稱有“Vishenka”（櫻桃），荷蘭男孩把自己的女朋友稱作“Dropje”（糖果），巴西人說“Meu Chuchu”,“chuchu”是一種蔬菜。在西班牙我聽說過一個昵稱，“Media Naranja,”意為半個句子，說明情侶是彼此的另一半。

So we decided to illustrate some of our favourites.

所以我們決定選出我們最喜歡的幾個，并配上插圖。

1 My Little Cabbage - French

我的小包菜——法國

2 Breadcrumb - Finnish

面包屑——芬蘭語

3 My Little Bug - Hungarian

我的小臭蟲——保加利亞語

4 Mousebear - German

小鼠熊——德語

5 My Gold Nugget - Danish

我的小金坨——丹麥語

6 Little Chip - Dutch

小薯條——荷蘭語

7 My Little Microbe - Italian

我的小菌菌——意大利語

8 Fruit Of My Heart - Indonesian

我心頭的小果果——印尼語

9 My Little Round Thing - Flemish

我的小圓球——弗蘭德語

10 Half An Orange - Spanish

半個小橙子——西班牙語

11 Little Elephant - Thai

小象象——泰國

12 Egg With Eyes - Japanese

有眼睛的小雞蛋——日本

13 Cute Nose - Swedish

可愛的鼻子——瑞典

14 My Little Chicken - Arabic

我的小雞仔——阿拉伯

15 My Little Eyes - Greek

我的小眼睛——希臘

Is there any science behind using pet names? Is it a mark of a healthy relationship, or unhealthy? Are couples who give each other names, ranging from the generic “Honey” and “Sweetie” to the creative “Loopy Lop,” more likely to stay together? And in our digital age, are these nicknames any more important?

這種昵稱的背后有沒有什么科學道理？這是一段戀情非常健康的標志，抑或是非健康的標志？那些為對方起昵稱的伴侶——無論他們的昵稱是較普通的“甜心”，“寶貝”，或者更富創意的“棒棒糖”——更有可能相伴終老嗎？在當下的數字時代，這種昵稱是否尤為重要?

From what has been studied, and from the experience of several experts, it seems nicknames can be a good thing for a relationship – if both partners are into it.

從目前既有的研究成果，及若干專家的親身經歷來看，似乎昵稱對一段戀情是頗為有益的——如果雙方都很投入其中的話。

What do you call your partner - darling, sweetheart, babe? I have been called a little owl, a swan and even a “panda-fish.” No, I’m not a supernatural, shape-shifting creature or a character in a children’s storybook. I’ve just been in a few relationships where cutesy, affectionate nicknames emerged as inside jokes.

你是如何稱呼你的伴侶的？親愛的，甜心，寶貝？我曾獲得過小貓頭鷹，小天鵝，甚至“熊貓魚兒”這樣的愛稱。然而我并不是超自然生物，也不是異形怪或童話里的角色。我只不過談過幾次戀愛，這些可愛，親昵的稱呼成為了戀人之間的小玩笑。

Turns out, there are many more inventive terms of endearment used around the world, including 'egg with eyes', 'my little cabbage' and 'cute nose'.

其實，在世界各地人們有許多更富創意的愛稱用語，包括“長眼睛的小雞蛋”，“我的小包菜”，“可愛的小鼻鼻”。

Plenty of my friends have developed nicknames with their romantic partners. I asked the question on Facebook and got a broad assortment of answers: former boyfriends who knew each other as “Tiger and Teddy.” An American man who dated a Chinese woman told me he called her “Popo,”,which means “wife” or “broken broken,” depending on your intonation – and she called him “Benben,” which he says means something like “dumb dumb,” referring to his lackluster mastery of the Chinese language at the time.

我的許多朋友也和戀人之間相互取了昵稱。我在社交網上也問過網友相關的問題，得到五花八門的回答：一對男同情侶相互稱呼為“小腦腐和小泰迪”。一個與中國女子談戀愛的美國男子告訴我，他叫她“老婆（/破破）”，根據不同的語調，意指“妻子”或“被破壞的東西”。而她叫他“笨笨”，他說意思是“蠢笨的”，意指他那時中文學得很差。

There seem to be a variety of languages with pet names, too. According to the website of the popular language-learning software Rosetta Stone, the French say “Mon Petit Chou” (my little cabbage or cream puff), the Russians say “Vishenka” (cherry), the Dutch call girlfriends “Dropje” (candy) and in Brazil you can say “Meu Chuchu,” where “chuchu” is a vegetable. In Spain I heard the term “Media Naranja,” meaning half-orange, suggesting that the romantic partners are two halves of the whole.

很多國家的語言中都有這樣的昵稱。據一款很受歡迎的網上語言學習軟件，Rosetta Stone提供的資料可知，法國人的愛稱有“Mon Petit Chou”（意為我的小包菜，或者我的小泡芙），俄國人的愛稱有“Vishenka”（櫻桃），荷蘭男孩把自己的女朋友稱作“Dropje”（糖果），巴西人說“Meu Chuchu”,“chuchu”是一種蔬菜。在西班牙我聽說過一個昵稱，“Media Naranja,”意為半個句子，說明情侶是彼此的另一半。

So we decided to illustrate some of our favourites.

所以我們決定選出我們最喜歡的幾個，并配上插圖。

1 My Little Cabbage - French

我的小包菜——法國

2 Breadcrumb - Finnish

面包屑——芬蘭語

3 My Little Bug - Hungarian

我的小臭蟲——保加利亞語

4 Mousebear - German

小鼠熊——德語

5 My Gold Nugget - Danish

我的小金坨——丹麥語

6 Little Chip - Dutch

小薯條——荷蘭語

7 My Little Microbe - Italian

我的小菌菌——意大利語

8 Fruit Of My Heart - Indonesian

我心頭的小果果——印尼語

9 My Little Round Thing - Flemish

我的小圓球——弗蘭德語

10 Half An Orange - Spanish

半個小橙子——西班牙語

11 Little Elephant - Thai

小象象——泰國

12 Egg With Eyes - Japanese

有眼睛的小雞蛋——日本

13 Cute Nose - Swedish

可愛的鼻子——瑞典

14 My Little Chicken - Arabic

我的小雞仔——阿拉伯

15 My Little Eyes - Greek

我的小眼睛——希臘

Is there any science behind using pet names? Is it a mark of a healthy relationship, or unhealthy? Are couples who give each other names, ranging from the generic “Honey” and “Sweetie” to the creative “Loopy Lop,” more likely to stay together? And in our digital age, are these nicknames any more important?

這種昵稱的背后有沒有什么科學道理？這是一段戀情非常健康的標志，抑或是非健康的標志？那些為對方起昵稱的伴侶——無論他們的昵稱是較普通的“甜心”，“寶貝”，或者更富創意的“棒棒糖”——更有可能相伴終老嗎？在當下的數字時代，這種昵稱是否尤為重要?

From what has been studied, and from the experience of several experts, it seems nicknames can be a good thing for a relationship – if both partners are into it.

從目前既有的研究成果，及若干專家的親身經歷來看，似乎昵稱對一段戀情是頗為有益的——如果雙方都很投入其中的話。