Careful calling another man BABY!
Feb 18, 2024 3:01:29 GMT -5
Post by Radrook Admin on Feb 18, 2024 3:01:29 GMT -5
Careful calling another man BABY!
Interjections are used in conversations as pauses, and to liven up the conversation. Some popular ones are "man" "bro" "homes" and "mate" in Australia. All of which are relatively non-offensive. However, some men in the USA use the term "baby" as an interjection during conversations with other men. No, it isn't necessarily done maliciously, it might be just trying sound cool when talking.
However, others might use it as a way of identifying themselves as available homosexuals. After all, women very often use the "baby" expression when speaking to men that they feel attracted to in an endearing fashion. So that a man using it towards another man, might indeed be identifying himself as female in gender is not at all far-fetched.
Now, that having been said, heterosexual men do not feel OK with being addressed by another man in that fashion. Why? Well, very simple. First because heterosexual men find that kind of familiarity between men repugnant. Second, because humans are not mind-readers, and that the term 'baby" is being used to feminize the man being spoken to might also be intended.
In short, when another man uses it to address another man, the speaker might be perceived as brazenly assuming a male role, while mockingly and insultingly assigning a feminine role to the man he is speaking to. Consequently, such a brazen affront will be perceived as a challenge to do something about it based on the assumption that the targeted male can't do anything about it because of fear.
Well, the offender might be right. Fear might indeed prevent the offended from escalating and he might simply choose to walk away in silence. Or it might be that the offended man is a Christian who doesn't believe in violent resolutions to interpersonal problems. Or maybe he is just a person who has the common sense to perceive when a scumbag is attempting to start a fight and wants no part of it.
However, there is yet another far less pleasant possibility. The possibility that this offensive expression might foment intense anger which will quickly escalate into a heated argument, and that the heated argument, fanned by the offender's refusal to back down, will escalate into physical violence, and that physical violence will lead to the ER, a prison cell, or to a refrigerator at the morgue.
In short, using the term "baby" when addressing another man might risk getting ourselves shot, stabbed in the chest, or having our throat sliced by someone whom we considered to be totally harmless. The sad part about it is that such a disaster is totally unnecessary since common sense should tell us man that referring to another man as "baby" can lead to trouble that might be far more serious than we had bargained for.