Terms of Endangerment: Difference between revisions

It implies a non-existent closeness, or that the addressed somehow belongs to the addresser. Even if the one using these endearments doesn't mean the target harm, there's an undercurrent of wrongness in the way the addresser thinks and acts that makes them seem mentally unstable and dangerous. (Unless it's just an act designed to [[I Shall Taunt You|irritate]] or [[Trash Talk|distract]] the enemy and get him off his game.)

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Ranma ½]]'': Kodachi Kuno is (one of) Ranma's obsessive [[Stalker with a Crush]] even though Ranma can't stand her, and she refers to him as either Ranma-sama, Sweetums, or Darling.

** While Tatewaki refers to girl-form Ranma as "pig-tailed girl", "my love", "my Venus", and Akane as "my dear Akane" and the like.

* ''[[Durarara!!]]'': Izaya typically calls his rival/enemy Shizuo "Shizu-chan".

* ''[[Zombie Loan]]'': [[Mad Scientist|Shiba]] is attracted to Michiru because of her "abnormality" and often calls her "cute."

* ''[[Dragon Ball]]'': [[The Brute|Recoome]] of the Ginyu Force adds 'chan' to Vegeta's name while beating him half to death.

** Cell at one point calls Android 18 "my little peach." It's pretty disturbing given that he's basically a giant bug, especially when {{spoiler|he finally absorbs her after doing the same to her twin brother. He enjoys absorbing 18 WAY too much.}}

* [[Gregory Horror Show|Gregory]] calls the First Guest "my friend," and the (female) Second Guest "my dear." It makes both endings creepier.

* ''[[Togainu no Chi]]'': Gunji has nicknames for practically everyone; Ji-ji (old man) for Kiriwar, Papa for Arbitro, and Shikiti for Shiki. However, the best example of this trope is when he starts calling Akira neko-chan (kitty or kitten).

** As with the ''Naruto'' example above we have L (an older man) always calling Light (a teenage boy) "Light[[Japanese Honorifics|-kun]]." A teenage boy that he has {{spoiler|[[Chained Heat|joined at the wrist]]}} [[Foe Yay|by the way.]]

* ''[[Blue Exorcist]]'' has this in the first meeting between Rin and [[Luke, I Am Your Father|Satan]]. The latter calls the former his "darling boy" and says Rin could just call him "daddy." Keep in mind this is 1) while possessing Rin's adoptive father and 2) he attempts to drag him to the demon realm.

* ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'': Byakuran and Mukuro refer to Tsuna as "Tsunayoshi-kun". And Julie Katou finds Chrome to be "so damn cute".

* In ''[[Gundam Seed]]'', Dearka Elsman has many nice names for Miriallia during his time as a prisoner on the Archangel.

 

* [[Batman]]: As mentioned below, the Joker's many nicknames for Batman. To name a few there is "Batsy", "Honey Pie", "My Detective", "Bats", "My Dear Batman", "Darling", "Honeycakes", and "My Dear Dark Knight".

** Though in the Joker's case, it <s>could be</s> ''[http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v205/fuyukun/Pippins-Pic.jpg is]'' [[Foe Yay]].

* Granny Goodness, the most twisted and creepifying of [[Jack Kirby]]'s New Gods, calls everyone she's torturing and brainwashing "my precious", "poppet", and similarly maternal terms.

** This trope truly comes into play for her when she is addressing those who have escaped her, such as Mr Miracle and Big Barda.

{{quote|'''Batman:''' Thank you, Looker ... but drop the 'Darling'.

'''Looker:''' (smirking) Very well... ''Dearest''. }}

* {{spoiler|Gideon Graves'}} usage of "buddy" and "amigo" towards [[Scott Pilgrim]].

* Katchoo of ''[[Strangers in Paradise]]'' forbids her on-again, off-again lover David to call her "Baby," because it's a reminder of her hated past as a call girl known to clients as "Baby June." She assures him that "Honey's okay." At the conclusion of the series, when she and {{spoiler|Francine}} finally get together for good, she says, "Then I love you...and you can call me Baby."

 

* In ''[[Go Not Gently]]'', Black Tango calls Eiko "Linden-bloom", referencing Lindblum, Eiko's adopted hometown.

* In the ''[[Death Note]]'' fic ''[[Point of Succession]]'' [[Serial Killer|Beyond Birthday]] has ''tons'' of these both for the creep factor and [[Cryptic Conversation|to be deliberately vague in order to fool both his opponents]] ''[[Cryptic Conversation|and]]'' [[Cryptic Conversation|the audience.]] He refers to those [[Foe Yay|"near and dear to him"]] by such names as "Darling!," "Little Dear," "[[Fridge Brilliance|Mr. Twelve,]]" and "Sweetie Jam." (Spoilers: He's referring to {{spoiler|[[Ho Yay|A]], [[Corrupt the Cutie|Mello]], [[Fridge Brilliance|L]], and [[Foe Yay|Light]]}} respectively.)

 

== Film ==

* Despite his candid use of torture, one of the scariest things Hani Pasha does in ''[[Body of Lies]]'' is repeatedly calling his ally Roger "My dear". It might have been a translation thing... but it may well have been intentional considering his otherwise flawless English.

* In episode six of ''[[Star Wars]]'', The Emperor repeatedly calls Luke "My young apprentice" as he's fighting for his life against his father.

* The Joker absolutely loves this, although in ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' it's more like Statements Of Endangerment. "You complete me..."

** And he doesn't just use them with Batsy. Party scene with Rachel, anyone?

** [[Aladdin (Disney film)|Jafar]], who within about three minutes called Jasmine both "my dear" and "pussycat."

** Ursula from ''[[The Little Mermaid]]''. She calls Ariel things like "my child", "angelfish", "my dear sweet child", "sweet cakes", "poor little princess", and "my sweet".

 

== Literature ==

* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', [[Horny Devils|Lara Raith]] tends to refer to Harry Dresden as "wizard mine" and is quite affectionate with him. She also makes it clear that she doesn't want him to be another thrall of the White Court, but rather wants him as an equal partner to her.

* Mr Large in the ''[[CHERUB Series]]'' has a habit of referring to the Cherubs as 'cupcakes' or 'muffins.'

* ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'': Count Olaf usually just refers to the Baudelaires as "orphans" but with Violet it's usually, "my dear", or just constantly mentioning how pretty she is. He even tried to marry her in the first book. Even if it was just for the money... creepy.

* Emperor Jagang in ''The [[Sword of Truth]]'' books calls female characters he usually intends to rape, torture and/or kill (which is to say, all of them) "darlin'".

** In a decidedly less creepy, more mischievous variation, the Weasley twins. Either they're trying to rile Ron up, they're launching a sales pitch, or a prank is on its way.

** Also on the good guys' side, [[Big Good|Dumbledore]] consistently refers to [[Big Bad|Voldemort]] as "[[First-Name Basis|Tom]]", which pisses Voldy off something fierce.

* [[The Screwtape Letters|My dear, my very dear Wormwood, my poppet, my pigsnie...]]

 

* In ''[[Angel]]'', Power-that-was Jasmine tends to call her minions things like 'sweet boy' and 'my love.' This comes off as even creepier as before she was corporeal she disguised her voice as very deep and masculine.

* In the ''[[Firefly]]'' episode "Objects In Space," Jubal Early constantly refers to River as "darlin'" while speaking to her, and trying to hunt her down. Taken in context with the rape threats he makes toward Kaylee and the other equally disturbing commentary he makes over the course of the episode, it comes out very, very ''wrong.''

 

== Music ==

* The narrator does this in the song "''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMJVcAXiudY Perfect Insanity]''" by [[Disturbed]]:

{{quote|''What seems to be the matter, dear? / Why do you cry and shake with fear?''}}

** ''"[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsIXGVOvah8 The Game]"'' as well:

{{quote|''Darlin', you can trust me / COMPLETELY!''}}

 

== Theatre ==

* [[Little Shop of Horrors]]: "Cutie! Sweetness! Seymour! Babydoll..." and then she makes his life a living hell without knowing it.

 

== Video Games ==

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Girl Genius]]'': Right from [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20060201 her appearance] Lucrezia coats her speech with "dears", "darlings", "silly", and so on. This doesn't mean she isn't one little snap away from a hissy fit and eyeblink from indiscriminate murder. She still showers people with verbal saccharine when gloating ([http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061206 "Why yes, Klaus dear!"]), though cuts down on it while talking business (unless this includes gloating).

* In ''[[Looking for Group]]'', Tavor addresses Cale as "Brother". Then again, when he was first introduced, he really ''was'' a nice guy, and it seems to be implied that all elven knights address one another as "brother". Later in the story, though, this trope is played straight when he (or rather his ghost) is driven insane by the death of his King and Princess {{spoiler|(implied to be his family)}} and destruction of the kingdom, and {{spoiler|tries to kill Cale and the Archmage}}.

 

== Web Original ==

* [[Giant Spider|N'Ktane]] in ''[[Tasakeru]]'' is fond of using these. {{spoiler|It's practically a calling card, as another character is able to recognize that she's [[Demonic Possession|possessing someone]] by her usage of "my pet".}}

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Kim Possible]]'', [[The Dragon|Shego]] calls her [[Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World|teenaged foe]] names like "Pumpkin", "Princess", "Cupcake" and "Kimmie". The surface tone of the remarks is [[Trash Talk|dismissive]], but some fans have a [[Foe Yay|different]] [[Les Yay|interpretation]].

* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'': Slade is a fan of this seeing as how he would like to refer to Robin as "my boy" and Terra as "my dear apprentice". Also, in the episode "Spellbound" Raven fell in love with Malchior who lived in a book. However he turned out to be a [[Mailer Daemon]], who was really just tricking her into releasing him from the book. He kept referring to her as "my sweet Raven". And in the episode "Birthmark" Slade kept mockingly referring to Raven as "birthday girl". Also, Blackfire seems to like calling Starfire "sister dear". And Jinx has called Beast Boy "kitty".

** When fighting Aang in Earth Rumble, Toph called out "What's your stage name, the Fancy Dancer?". They later become friends, though she sometimes calls him "Twinkletoes" as a faintly derisive comment --

{{quote|Sokka: "Don't answer to 'Twinkletoes'! It's not ''manly''!"}}

** As of ''Couple's Retreat'', it is official that this is NOT just about Gwen's mana.

* ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' has the [[Creepy Child|Delightful Children]] refer to Numbuh 1 by his first name "Nigel". Very [[No Yay]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Naming Conventions]]