LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

  Initially, I was shocked to be addressed as "cariño" by a waitress in a café in Madrid. Then, I reconciled myself to the friendly attitude of South American waitresses and attendants at restaurants, supermarkets, and coffee houses. My youngest daughter told me a few minutes ago that she was taken aback by the cashier at a supermarket calling her husband "cari," short for "cariño." "Cariño," "encanto," "amor," "corazón," "cielo," are terms of endearment that are nice but meaningless in this context. They are common in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela, and other countries south of the border. Some people object to this familiarity, but I don't. 

Esto de asociar la belleza, el amor o la cuestión sexual, con la comida es muy anglosajón. Las palabras de cariño o de admiración hacia el género femenino son de este calibre: Apple pie, Baby cakes, Buttercup, Cake,Cheescake, Dish, Honey, Honey bunny, Honey pie, Honey pot, Peach, Peaches, Pumpkin, Sugar, Sweet, Sweet pea, Sweetheart, Sweetie, Sweetiepie, baby, babe, darling, sugarplum, honeybunch, Cutie pie, doll. También se oye dear .Y con grandes esfuerzos "love" o "my love." Las mujeres no asocian a los hombres con la comida ni con el dulce, excepto sweet , honey, hon , palabras que se oyen mucho en los supermercados. P ara referirse al hombre ideal, las féminas emplean: Dreamboat, Flame, Knight in shining armor, Ladies’ man, Lady killer, Lover boy, Prince charming, Seducer, Stud, Sugar-daddy, Romeo. Un hispanohablante diría cariño, amor, cielo, mi vida, vida mía, corazón, amorcito, cielito lindo, tesoro, guapo, guapa... en plan romántico.   ...