I have a question For alphameter!
is there a word in french that is somewhat equal to calling a person you don‘t know well honey/darling/love. Maybe in a somewhat flirty way but not like being in a relationship or super close.
Like how a hairdresser would say what can i do for you today, love? so between two people that don’t know each other that well but share a sympathy or at least want to appear nice.
this is... a tricky question with a tricky answer, at the very least.
you see, this entire thing basically assumes that its ok to nickname strangers, and in france we opt for respectful distance usually instead. ironically, THIS is how we act to seem friendly, with a lot of excusez-moi (excuse me ? except it is. its hard to explain but the way americans say it translates better to excuse-moi, which is a completely different and more accusatory connotation than the "hey sorry (polite)" of this one), pardon de vous déranger (sorry for disturbing you), je vous en prie (you're welcome but fancy) and so on. polite formulas. we also have a thing called polite you, which basically when instead of using singular you to talk about a singular person you use plural- using vous instead of tu. you use this for Pretty Much Everyone that you arent friends or family with, except kids.
so thats basically a way to say the context youre talking about here. i mean. it exists. but it doesnt translate 1:1. bc we act w in mind the fact that we basically are talking to someone who didnt expect it and is minding their own business and whose boundaries, life and so on we do not know. its also like. the politeness is one big "its ok if you cant answer" and showing that continuing the conversation is opt-in rather than opt-out. using singular you for example comes accross as a disregard for boundaries and almost agressive/insulting. in other words we default to sheepish around strangers, rather than. buddy buddy/sassy motherly. for the special case of business owners who we see pretty often, hmmmm..........
(i am thinking very hard)
ma p'tite dame is sth that butchers and cheese sellers and things like that will say to a lady in a local shop, especially by men to older ladies with a smaller stature. its literally little lady and very cute. m'sieur/mon bon m'sieur, sir/my good sir, is the to go for a guy. also, they LOVE to go monsieur/madame (family name), esp since knowing peoples names and using them is a mark of familiarity. mon p'tit/ma p'tite is for children- but also, ironically, mon grand/ma grande. its literally small one VS big guy/big girl, depending of whether you want to seem kind and insist on liking the kid and finding them cute, or if you want to make them feel valued and taken seriously and as strong independent people. really tbh everything is in the tone and the sentence structure as well as choosing words that are neither slang nor fancy, rather than in having friendly vocabulary itself. that said, sassy aunt energy hairdressers are, i am afraid, an american specie, and not quite a thing in france. they will be cheerful but will not attribute nicknames. theyll still comment on how thick and amazing your hair is tho. or at least they always did for me. also, unlike friends and the like, business owners will NOT drop the vous bc this is a very open "valuable customer, hi !", a bit like a funny little low bow. anyways...
you also can openly pity people. if someones talking to you bc they need directions or sth, it is socially acceptable to say things like "mon pauvre/ma pauvre" (sth akin to poor dear ig). if youre *really* relieved and someone got you out of HUGE trouble, you can exclaim stuff like "vous êtes un amour !", literally youre an angel. (amour usually means love, but theyre also a subtype of angel. cupids ? you get the idea), dont forget merci beaucoup either ! thank you so much.
anyways... assuming you are asking about this for spy. this is one of these things that, due to cultural differences, we simply would use the english versions instead, a bit like what i explained with this post and some expressions being very hard to translate. also while women may get away with things like mon chou, trésor and so on (read : i cant think of any others) in pitying contexts, men... not so much ? one, they simply just dont use these (chérie, ma jolie, cocotte, etc...) words in this context, only when catcalling, two, when men call women this shit its usually. err. to put it simply. yeah its usually a sign theyre a misogynist/a "beauf" (someone lacking class/respect, often with lifestyles that are all around consuming trash TV, soccer, facebook and rumors stuff). if youre talking about scouts ma tho, who many people like to HC as french as well, yeah shed use (mon) trésor/mon chou
anyways spy would call heavy bisounet









