My sugar or sug, sugarpea, sugarpie?!  (呼び名はさまざま)

前回のEnglish is Interestingの記事でも触れましたが、英語には知られざる「魅力」がたくさんあります。今回は、英語の「呼び方」についてみていきたいと思います。例えば手紙の場合、「Dear Mrs.Smith」と書いたります。カジュアルなメールであれば「Hi Betty」と書いたりします。しかし相手が誰かわからない場合は、Dear Sir　or Madamなどより一般的な呼び方が使われます。作家が著作の中で読者に語りかける場合の古い言い方として「Gentle Reader」があります。本のアドバイス欄などでは読者のメッセージの冒頭にDear Gentle Readerと書かれていることもあります。スピーチの冒頭では聴衆に対してLadies and Gentlemenと呼びかけますよね。親しみの度合いによって変わる「呼び方」について見てみましょう。

When speaking to family members, people often use words that show closeness. For example, a person might call their father, dad, daddy, pa, or pappa; their mother, mom, mommy, ma, or mama; grandfather, granpa, gramps, grandad; grandmother, gran, granma, grannie, nana; a brother might be bro; a sister might be sis, a cousin might be cuz. 

In spoken English, people often are trying to show friendliness, casualness, or relationship closeness. People may use words called endearments, for example, when they are talking to children, pets, or romantic partners. Here are some examples: darling, sweetheart, love, dear, cutie, baby, sugar, honey, pumpkin, angel, princess, or precious. Some words can be cut so instead of saying sugar or honey, someone might say sug or hon. Sometime a -y or -ie ending is added, for example, sweetie or dearie. Sometimes an ending like -pea is added, for instance, sweetpea, sugarpea; -pie may be added to some words, for example, sweetiepie, cutiepie, sugarpie, or honeypie.

There are many different styles of English. Some differences are in written or spoken English. Some differences are in more formal or less formal English. These differences are also true in other languages. This gives language studies a richness that make it interesting.