I'm remembering a friend, a sort of "gentle giant" of a guy, hard working, succesful, etc. They were in counseling and his wife was just hurling every demeaning expletive laden insult at him. He was quietly saying he couldn't take it anymore and he would have to leave the marriage if she didn't stop. The counselor is telling her, "Do you hear this Joanne, Steve is saying he is going to leave if this continues?" And she screams at the counselor, "I don't blankety blank care what the blankety blank does, he's a no good blankety blank!" So he left her.
Hmm I wouldn't count pet names among the worst crimes.
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Maybe not but when you tell someone that you not only don't like it but are actually VERY OFFENDED and she is stupid enought to insist on continuing with it and in front of other people to boot and then she wonders why you tell her to get lost you tend to wonder if there is anything other than air between her ears! If I called a woman by some pet name and she objected then she would never hear it again. What is the problem?
That is just one example anyway, there were plenty of others.
I believe it is not the pet name that is the crime; but, it is more likely to be the use of [fill in the blank --- pet name or whatever] to taunt the other person who has made it clear that he/she finds it offensive that is the "crime".A deliberate pattern of behaviour, especially in front of outsiders, designed to irritate or offend another person is often the beginning of the breakdown of a relationship.
SoS