What do you call your partner - darling, sweetheart, babe? I have been called a little owl, a swan and even a “panda-fish.” No, I’m not a supernatural, shape-shifting creature or a character in a children’s storybook. I’ve just been in a few relationships where cutesy, affectionate nicknames emerged as inside jokes.

　　你是如何称呼你的伴侣的?亲爱的，甜心，宝贝?我曾获得过小猫头鹰，小天鹅，甚至“熊猫鱼儿”这样的爱称。然而我并不是超自然生物，也不是异形怪或童话里的角色。我只不过谈过几次恋爱，这些可爱，亲昵的称呼成为了恋人之间的小玩笑。

　　Turns out, there are many more inventive terms of endearment used around the world, including 'egg with eyes', 'my little cabbage' and 'cute nose'.

　　其实，在世界各地人们有许多更富创意的爱称用语，包括“长眼睛的小鸡蛋”，“我的小包菜”，“可爱的小鼻鼻”。

　　Plenty of my friends have developed nicknames with their romantic partners. I asked the question on Facebook and got a broad assortment of answers: former boyfriends who knew each other as “Tiger and Teddy.” An American man who dated a Chinese woman told me he called her “Popo,”,which means “wife” or “broken broken,” depending on your intonation – and she called him “Benben,” which he says means something like “dumb dumb,” referring to his lackluster mastery of the Chinese language at the time.

　　我的许多朋友也和恋人之间相互取了昵称。我在社交网上也问过网友相关的问题，得到五花八门的回答：一对男同情侣相互称呼为“小脑腐和小泰迪”。一个与中国女子谈恋爱的美国男子告诉我，他叫她“老婆(/破破)”，根据不同的语调，意指“妻子”或“被破坏的东西”。而她叫他“笨笨”，他说意思是“蠢笨的”，意指他那时中文学得很差。

　　There seem to be a variety of languages with pet names, too. According to the website of the popular language-learning software Rosetta Stone, the French say “Mon Petit Chou” (my little cabbage or cream puff), the Russians say “Vishenka” (cherry), the Dutch call girlfriends “Dropje” (candy) and in Brazil you can say “Meu Chuchu,” where “chuchu” is a vegetable. In Spain I heard the term “Media Naranja,” meaning half-orange, suggesting that the romantic partners are two halves of the whole.

　　很多国家的语言中都有这样的昵称。据一款很受欢迎的网上语言学习软件，Rosetta Stone提供的资料可知，法国人的爱称有“Mon Petit Chou”(意为我的小包菜，或者我的小泡芙)，俄国人的爱称有“Vishenka”(樱桃)，荷兰男孩把自己的女朋友称作“Dropje”(糖果)，巴西人说“Meu Chuchu”,“chuchu”是一种蔬菜。在西班牙我听说过一个昵称，“Media Naranja,”意为半个句子，说明情侣是彼此的另一半。

　　So we decided to illustrate some of our favourites.

　　所以我们决定选出我们最喜欢的几个。

　　1 My Little Cabbage - French

　　我的小包菜——法国

　　2 Breadcrumb - Finnish

　　面包屑——芬兰语

　　My Little Bug - Hungarian

　　我的小臭虫——保加利亚语

　　4 Mousebear - German

　　小鼠熊——德语

　　5 My Gold Nugget - Danish

　　我的小金坨——丹麦语

　　6 Little Chip - Dutch

　　小薯条——荷兰语

　　7 My Little Microbe - Italian

　　我的小菌菌——意大利语

　　8 Fruit Of My Heart - Indonesian

　　我心头的小果果——印尼语

　　9 My Little Round Thing - Flemish

　　我的小圆球——弗兰德语

　　10 Half An Orange - Spanish

　　半个小橙子——西班牙语

　　11 Little Elephant - Thai

　　小象象——泰国

　　12 Egg With Eyes - Japanese

　　有眼睛的小鸡蛋——日本

　　13 Cute Nose - Swedish

　　可爱的鼻子——瑞典

　　14 My Little Chicken - Arabic

　　我的小鸡仔——阿拉伯

　　15 My Little Eyes - Greek

　　我的小眼睛——希腊

　　Is there any science behind using pet names? Is it a mark of a healthy relationship, or unhealthy? Are couples who give each other names, ranging from the generic “Honey” and “Sweetie” to the creative “Loopy Lop,” more likely to stay together? And in our digital age, are these nicknames any more important?

　　这种昵称的背后有没有什么科学道理?这是一段恋情非常健康的标志，抑或是非健康的标志?那些为对方起昵称的伴侣——无论他们的昵称是较普通的“甜心”，“宝贝”，或者更富创意的“棒棒糖”——更有可能相伴终老吗?在当下的数字时代，这种昵称是否尤为重要?

　　From what has been studied, and from the experience of several experts, it seems nicknames can be a good thing for a relationship – if both partners are into it.

　　从目前既有的研究成果，及若干专家的亲身经历来看，似乎昵称对一段恋情是颇为有益的——如果双方都很投入其中的话。