I completely see all that, it's just that couples tend to infantilise each other with nicknames a lot - baby, dear, darling, honey, and I think it's ok in that context, but not with people who you don't have that very close relationship. Obviously it depends upon how you as an individual respond to things.
My Dad has a habit of referring to women in their late 20s as girl (admittedly, he is double their age), which is rather dodgy, but then he mentioned an incident where my grandmother referred to a woman as a girl who was over 60! She is over 90, though. A lot of the time it's about context, I suppose.
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Date: 2009-03-26 11:33 am (UTC)My Dad has a habit of referring to women in their late 20s as girl (admittedly, he is double their age), which is rather dodgy, but then he mentioned an incident where my grandmother referred to a woman as a girl who was over 60! She is over 90, though. A lot of the time it's about context, I suppose.