51吃瓜

The language of love

Ah, love, l’amour, Liebe, ahava 鈥�

It’s one of the most important human emotions. And for every way we feel love, there’s a word or phrase that tries to express it. We say “tries” because there’s a reason love has inspired countless works of art鈥攆rom poetry to oil paintings to rap songs. It’s really hard to describe.

Maybe that’s why we humble humans have come up with so much colorful language to express the way we feel. Every culture (or sub-culture) has its own loving expressions, nicknames, and codes. We’ve rounded up a few that we find particularly pleasing.

Read on to learn some creative ways to show the people in your life you care about them. 鉂わ笍

I love you to the moon and back

Sometimes we love someone so much that it seems to be out of this world. That’s where the expression I love you to the moon and back can come in handy鈥攆or romantic, platonic, and familial love.

The phrase, which uses the celestial distance to heighten and dramatize the extent of love, may have been boosted by space exploration and the moon landing in the 1960s. An official NASA document, for instance, used the phrase to the moon and back听when describing a program in 1969, and the specific phrase has a smattering of instances across the decades prior.

Whatever its precise origins, the saying spread in the 1990鈥�2000s, as evidenced by its use in popular culture. In 1992, the band Spectrum released a song titled 鈥�(I Love You) To the Moon and Back.鈥� The theme of a parent鈥檚 love for their child is also reflected in the 1994 picture book听Guess How Much I Love You?听In the book, a small hare tells his father 鈥淚 love you right up to the moon,鈥� and the father replies 鈥淚 love you right up to the moon 鈥� and back.鈥�

As if the moon wasn’t far enough away there’s also the variant is听I love you to the stars and back. Some users will further intensify the phrase by swapping out moon for celestial bodies even further away (e.g.,听I love you to听Alpha Centauri and back鈥�that’s a big love).

Planetary bodies also figure in our next favorite expression 鈥�

mean the world to me

Another way that people show just how much they care about someone (or something) is to say it means the world to them. This idiomatic expression is over 100 years old!

The expression听mean the world听came into use at least by the 20th century as an emphatic way for a speaker or writer to convey how much they care about someone or something鈥攖heir feelings, as the phrase implies, are as big as the entire planet, as if encompassing everything.

A variant of this expression,听to be all the world (to someone), appears in a 1916 story in听Watson鈥檚 Magazine听where a desperate suitor tries to woo a young woman: 鈥淚 love you, little maid.听You are听all the world to me!鈥� The phrase听all the world, for 鈥渢he whole or earth or the universe,鈥� dates back to Old English.

The phrase is especially used in the construction听you mean the world to me听to express deep romantic love, commonly appearing in greeting cards.

hugs and kisses or XOXO

One of the ways humans show affection, besides buying flowers, giving foot rubs, and making favorite meals, is through the classic hugs and kisses. In fact, these actions are so common that hugs and kisses has become a phrase to express affection in its own right.

The two words have been paired as a set phrase for affection since at least the 1700s. While the expression often literally signifies PDA between family members or romantic partners, hugs and kisses听became common enough to stand-in for fond and compassionate feelings in general by the late 1900s.

This may be due to the fact that听hugs and kisses is a familiar sign-off, seen in the signature of a birthday card from a grandmother to a goodbye said by a parent on the phone. When this practice emerged isn鈥檛 exactly clear, but it is surely influenced by its symbolic shorthand XOXO听and its variants.

The letter听X听represents 鈥渒iss,鈥� evidenced in letters since the 1760s though potentially dating back to Christian customs in the Middle Ages. The letter听O, or 鈥渉ug,鈥� is more obscure and not firmly found until the 1960s. Technically, this means听XOXO听stands for听kisses and hugs, a less frequent variant for the more rhythmic听hugs and kisses.

If the classic hugs and kisses or XOXO doesn鈥檛 suit you, you might want to try 鈥�

143

143听is code for听I love you, especially used on听pagers听back in the 1990s.

The shorthand, as the story goes, dates back to the early 1900s from Minot鈥檚 Ledge lighthouse off the coast of Cohasset, Massachusetts. The story actually begins in 1895, when the lighthouse changed its flash pattern after a recommendation that all lighthouses have numerical flash sequences. The order, one quick flash, four flashes, then three flashes, was apparently chosen at random.

In 1915, a new assistant lighthouse keeper, Winfield Scott Thompson, came to Minot鈥檚 Ledge lighthouse. His family lived on a neighboring island and could see the flash of the lighthouse at night. According to legend, Mary Thompson, Winfield鈥檚 wife, told their children that it was the I Love You听flash, their father鈥檚 way of telling them how much he loved them from across the water. Each flash corresponded to the number of letters in each word of the phrase:听I love you. This tale proved popular, so much so that Minot鈥檚 Ledge lighthouse is nicknamed the I Love You听lighthouse. Awww.

Whether from the lighthouse or formed independently later in the century, the听143听肠辞诲别听endured. Pagers were popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The devices had limited space for messages and not all supported text. As a workaround, people used codes like 411 for information or 911 to symbolize emergency and 143听蹿辞谤听I love you.听143听was also used in the early days of internet chatrooms and text-messaging.

heart symbol <3

Before Unicode characters, especially emoji, were widely available on phone keyboards and the internet, users combined the mathematical less-than sign, <, and the numeral 3 to depict the heart symbol, oriented on its side.

The <3 symbol joins other emoticons, like the smiley :), as a popular way to convey emotion and mark tone in early email, text messaging, instant messaging, and online forums beginning in the 1980s.

Once Unicode 6.0 supported emoji in 2010, people widely began using the red heart emoji听 (鉂わ笍) or any of its expressive variants instead of the <3. But sometimes it’s endearing to go old-school, and we can’t help telling the people in our lives we care about that we “less than 3” them 鈥� even if they find it confusing.

Valentine's Day emoji

OK, you got us. There is no literal Valentine’s Day emoji, but there are a huge number of lovey-dovey emoji, including ones depicting hearts, flowers, gestures like kisses and hand-holding, and chocolate.

Despite both widespread popularity (and hatred), there hasn鈥檛 ever been Valentine鈥檚 Day-specific emoji to date. This is probably because what could be a Valentine鈥檚 Day emoji also works for expressions of love year-round. The bouquet 馃拹, chocolate bar 馃崼, love letter 馃拰, or red heart 鉂� emoji work well on Valentine鈥檚 Day, but also on anniversaries, birthdays, special occasions, and 鈥渏ust-because鈥� moments. Perhaps, the emoji most distinctive to Valentine鈥檚 Day, though, is heart with arrow 馃挊, which makes everyone think of the holiday鈥檚 icon, Cupid.

There are over 25 emoji that are heart-shaped or depict hearts so if the emoji listed above don’t fit your fancy, you have choices.

If you’re specifically celebrating coupledom or lovey-dovey times with your partner though, there are more emoji for that too. Whether you鈥檙e holding hands 馃懍, kissing 馃懇鈥嶁潳锔忊�嶐煉嬧�嶐煈�, or just hanging out with feelings 馃拺 (couple with heart), emoji have you covered.

Maybe, though, a pictogram isn’t going to cut it. After all, someone you love deserves an adorable appellate or nickname. We’ve got a few suggestions for you 鈥�

boo | bae

Hey, boo. Hey, bae. Try each of these on for size to see which one suits you (and the object of your affection) best. They mean slightly different things, but they all have one thing in common: they express how much you care.Boo听means a few different things, but it’s generally used for a romantic partner (e.g.,听my boo听or听鈥�sweetheart鈥�). Maybe a form of baby听or the French听beau(x), the pet听boo, used much like听bae, emerges in 1990s hip-hop slang and spread from there.

A notable early use of this听boo听comes in the lyrics of hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest鈥檚 1990 song 鈥淕o Ahead in the Rain鈥�:听鈥淟ifeless ventures ain鈥檛 new,听boo.鈥� 听The same year, rapper Grand Daddy I.U. spit the line, 鈥淵o, boo, I like you, but I like others too.鈥�Bae is also often in rap lyrics. Bae emerged in Black slang in the early 2000s, appearing in hip-hop and rap lyrics in 2005 before spreading into mainstream slang in the 2010s. It appears to be a Black English shortening or pronunciation of babe听辞谤听baby as terms of endearment, though a popular folk etymology spread in the early 2010s claimed bae听is a backronym for 鈥渂efore anyone else.鈥� Aww.

Of course, not all expressions of affection are in English 鈥�

mami | papi | habibi | yaar

For as many languages as there are in the world, there are nicknames people use for the ones they love.

In Spanish, there’s mami听and papi, to name two of the most common ones. Mami听is a Spanish slang term variously used to refer to an attractive woman, female romantic partner, or close female friend. Similarly, papi听is a Spanish colloquialism for 鈥渄addy,鈥� extended as a general term of endearment like 鈥渂uddy鈥� for a friend or 鈥渕y man鈥� for a romantic partner.

In Arabic, there’s habibi, an Arabic word that literally means 鈥渕y love鈥� (sometimes also translated as 鈥渕y dear,鈥� 鈥渕y darling,鈥� or 鈥渂eloved鈥�). It is used primarily听as a pet name for friends, significant others, or family members. Habibi is frequently used in songs to give them a romantic feel, and usually both men and women are habibi听in music.

In Hindi, you get yaar, an informal Indian English term for a听friend. There are multiple ways to use the word, and it can be used to refer to a听lover, especially in听Bollywood. If you have a听yaar, then you鈥檝e found听yaari听 (friendship). This can be a common friendship or have a more romantic connotation. Yaar听has been particularly associated with certain听tropes听in Bollywood since the 1970s.

Speaking of foreign languages, sometimes you might want to tell someone you love them in a language besides English, to make it a little more special. Take, for example 鈥�

te amo

Te amo means听鈥淚 love you鈥澨齣n Spanish and Portuguese鈥攁 two-for-one there, you aspiring听papi听chulo, you.

For word nerds,听te听is the second person singular or familiar form of 鈥測ou鈥� and听amo is 鈥淚 love.鈥� The expression is ancient鈥攚e can find te听amo听in the parent of Spanish and Portuguese, Latin.

In modern Spanish and Portuguese,听te amo听most often expresses love for a romantic partner, family, and even very near and dear friends.听Sometimes it is said with the word听yo, 鈥淚,鈥� which is already implied in amo, but is added for emphasis, as in听yo te amo.Te amo听is generally reserved for more romantic or intense feelings of love, as said between partners or close family members.Te quiero, literally 鈥淚 want you鈥� but with the sense of 鈥淚 care about you,鈥� can express more casual affection for friends, someone you鈥檙e dating, or more distant relations.听听But maybe expressing your love in this way is too sincere. In that case, you might want to go with our next expression which is way more irreverent 鈥�

glomp

A听glomp听is a lunging, enthusiastic, over-the-top, and potentially dangerous hug that often begins with a running start, like a tackle. It can be used as a verb or internet comment for giving someone such a greeting.Glomping听was a听trope听in comics and animation long before it was called听glomping.听For example, in the 1980鈥�90s strip听Calvin and Hobbes, Hobbes often听glomps听Calvin when听he returns home from school.

In real life, you might consider other ways to show your affection rather than听glomping. Anime voice actor Greg Ayres is said to have once been听glomped听by a fan at the top of a flight of stairs while attending a convention, causing both听glomper听and听glompee听to plummet down the stairway.听This seems to be why many conventions ban听glomping.

However you express your affection, we hope you eventually find your 鈥�