confused about 'Love'

Here in the Black Country everyone is "me lover", male and female, black or white! Political correctness not arrived yet.

"Perhaps it's acceptable in the north!"

Good grief where on earth do some people live if they don't know colloquial speak is used everywhere.

It is acceptable or not to the individual, nothing to with where we live. Speaking as a individual from Somerset , now living in the Midlands I don't give a hoot if and when I am addressed as love, dear etc. I like it actually.

Pet, Hen, Hinnie, here in the frozen North East. No objections from me because people are simply being friendly and, I truly believe, respectful when they use these terms. It was 'me duck' when I lived in Derby.

What a miserable, colourless and dowdy world it will be when the PC brigade have successfully eliminated general terms of greetings and endearment to each other. No more "cock sparrers"; hen; duck; love; chuck; pet etc. Wonder what they'll find to be offended about then?

You can't live in the north-west and object to people saying Sorry, luv!

M'love is a common term of endearment in these parts. And m'duck. 'Pet' which is more north eastern has even crept in, as has bab, which is more Brummie/Midlands.

My Mum called most people darling. I use that a lot too. I love warm greetings. I am not offended at all by them.

Even better, indeispensable, might be: "Yer what, luv?" in response to such silly tosh.

Bab is used quite a lot here. A young lad called me it once. I wasn't the least bit offended!

I think it would only be 'gender neutral if men called other men 'love',

In my previous line of work as an engineer, this was a term used by another engineer to males or females and nobody took offense.

I tend to think that in some area's of the country people can become offended by the most simplistic friendly statement.

I should add that in a local pub the other day the landlady called everybody, young or old, gorgeous a term I have never heard in the area, although to be fair the landlady is fairly new and from down south so it may be something imported into the dark north.