Hey MATE

When did it become socially acceptable to call strange women "love" again? Never, that's when.
I have brought this issue to the attention of woman I don't know twice in the last week. That's abnormal. And unacceptable.
I have been talking to a woman on the phone lately at work and she often calls me love....... have i tipped over into little old lady territory, or do i just sound like a little child on the phone (when did that happen?)
I do call children "love", though not children I've never seen before. Children I actually do love. Adults I don't know, NEVER. Adults who are working and present themselves as such, NEVER EVER. When did it become 1972 again? Was the woman who called me "love" today even *born* in 1972? When did she get the right to talk down to *me*?
I'm thinking, too, of how terms of endearment can also be used as confrontational terms with very little alteration. "Mate", in NZ, is the ultimate expression of respect and simultaneously a gauntlet in the face. People raised over seas seem to have massive issues with the word. To them it is a challenge. And I must admit that I would be more likely to call someone "mate" if I were pissed off with them than if I actually liked them.
So, mate. Don't call me love, OK?