December 28, 2004

Curious George My wife, who grew up in Kansas City, uses "Sugarfoot" as an endearment. What endearments did you grow up with, or make up for your current family?

The first time she called me that, I burst out laughing, because in our Episcopalian Pennsylvania heritage, there was nothing beyond "dear." I thought she made it up, since she often does so for our dogs (Mr pants, sugarbones, etc.), but she claims her mom used it too. UrbanDictionary.com gives the following definition, which makes me reconsider whether it is a nice thing for a wife to call a husband: 1. noun; term of endearment for a sweet, well-meaning, loyal, mild-mannered, somewhat slow boyfriend named for Woody Woodpecker's sometimes equine sidekick. A doll site says: "Sugarfoots came from my Dad. He used to call me a Sugarfoot. It's really a term of endearment in the South. It has a nice ethnicity sound to it." I've heard "Sugar" as a southern stereotypical endearment. Is sugarfoot regional? Are there other regional endearments?

  • I think "sugarfoot" is more of a family thing. I've lived all my life in both the midwest and the south US, including KC, and never heard anyone use that before. I was once called "sugar" by a saucy, buxom, middle-aged diner waitress with big hair and a molasses drawl, and I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.
  • Maybe they lived in Sugar Creek
  • Let's see, my dad called me: choupic (also, more properly spelled choupique, and pronounced "shoe-pick") - it's a pretty ugly fish. I will forever hold the term dear, and I'll probably call my kids that too. We're South Louisianians, and, fish factor pretty heavily into our lives and vocabularies. Also, common was "chèr" (pronounced shah, but more nasal), of French origin as well. He also called me biscuit-eater...
  • I'm preferential to "Candy Ass"
  • It's by no means a "family" thing, but my current favorite is "freak". Because if you live in Greenville, SC and I like you, then you are, by (my) definition, "a freak".
  • middleclass: I was once called "HEY! Get back here you fuckin' a-hole!! You didn't pay your check!" by a waitress... not the same though...
  • I call my poor son "honeybear". Poor, poor little bugger.
  • Ah, what affectionate nicknames I've inflicted on the kids/grandkids! sugarbooger stinkpot buddah butt/belly bean queen roundhead stinky duck I really wasn't trying to give them a complex.
  • My mom always called me "duck", or "little duck". It's a Downeast term of endearment.
  • "Fruit" and "gold" and "sack of salt" lose something in the translation, but I remember my grandparents calling us that. I affectionally referred to my siblings by their backwards (sdrawkcab) names. Sugarfoot sounds nice to me.
  • I do call offspring #1 "snotface" on days like today, when he has a cold and that godawful runny nose that comes with it. I'm only being honest with him. Really. Yeah, Sugarfoot is cute.
  • Sugar is extremely common in TN, especially among the older folk. But I just heard a new version from an elderly man... Sugabee. I am taking that on as my own. In my family, we've created any number of bizarre terms of endearments. The most consistent is calling my mother "Marmate".
  • hmm,,the nickname 'sugarfoot' - one step lower than a 'tenderfoot'.
  • Jonathon "Sugarfoot" Moffett, (who's played with Michael Jackson, Cameo, etc., so you know his kickin' is definitely up to scratch), talking about his bass drum: Everybody in the band had nicknames and the leader said I had to have a nickname.
  • My wife is known as She Who Must Be Obeyed, a nickname I gave her when the kids were very young. Spoken in the Voice of Doom, it was quite effective in encouraging unruly children to behave. Now, when we have disagreements, she refers to the nickname and tries to insist that I've lost the debate.
  • I always love it when my mother called me a son of a bitch...
  • She who must be obeyed. (Well-known to Brits and Colonials)
  • My husband, dear man, calls me the Director of Activities.
  • I grew up in Memphis, and my childhood nickname was "Pumpkin". Allegedly from the years I was losing baby teeth and my dad had me model a smile for the annual pumpkin carving. But my girlfriend's story is far better. She tells of being in first grade and having a very prissy snooty classmate say "My Daddy calls me "Pink Fluff"." My girlfriend comes right back with "Oh yeah? Well my Daddy calls me Dog Breath!". Apparently, it had never occurred to her to consider what that expression really meant.
  • My parents' term of endearment for me was, bizarrely, Pedro Delgado.
  • Southeast Texas near Louisiana - I got Sugarfoot a lot from my grandpa, and he was born and raised here. Oddly, he also called all of us girl grandkids Sugarbush - (not so pervy, people, he was a good man). The oldest girl child in the family was called Queenie, the oldest boy child Bubba. All of these family nicknames seemed to disappate into our " regular" nicknames by the time we were puberty-bound.
  • Tinkle-boy.
  • yes, indeed, retank must have lived in/around KC to know about sugar creek. i still miss KC bbq. sigh. lived in kansas city for 10 years, never heard of sugarfoot. my sweetie enjoys coming up with ridiculous terms of endearment for me. his latest seems to be "poo-poo butt."
  • Not many endearments, more ridiculous and nonsensical nicknames (let's not start). My mom would use "Sissy" once in a great while - in the sense of "sister," not "lacking masculinity." Though "sister" is complex-worthy in its own special way, too. (I get an endearment... about how I relate to somebody else. Thanks.) The rest were just awful nicknames. Though I only had one and my sister had two or three, so I can't complain there.
  • I don't remember where we picked it up, but I call my husband my sweet babboo. He has a variety of endearments for me which he can share or not on his own. I'm from Houston. I've never used sugarfoot, but it doesn't sound wrong to me. I'm getting to the age where I call people hon and darlin' and sugar, though, so that may be my old-ladyness speaking.
  • That's it, Wolof. I couldn't recall the name of the show, so thanks.
  • "Messiah," "Son of God," and "Prince of Peace" were among mine. That is a little too much pressure. I would have loved to have only been expected to live up to "sugarfoot."
  • My folks started calling me buckwheat when I was young, because of my messy hair. It became a ToD, and I now call little kids "buckwheat", now that I'm grown up.
  • Heh... I'm not the only Pumkin, I guess. But my wife calls my Honey-Pumpkin.
  • I was Gertrude Lawrence to my Nana, and my stepdad called me Stick Woman. Could have been worse; he called my sister Dragon Lady.
  • Dirty Gertie.
  • As a youngster, my dad often called me Jack Sprat. I have no idea why.
  • Callin' me Dirty Gerty, that's a paddlin'.
  • Oh, it's getting hawt in here. *grabs binoculars, hides in bushes*