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I noticed in a few languages that people can address children using names of animals or plants, to show affection.

For example in English you get:

pumpkin, tiger (sorry, can't think of more examples, but please fill me in if you can)

In French you get:

Ma puce (which means 'my louse'!), ma biche (deer), mon petit chou (my little cabbage)

in Romanian you can get

Ursuleț (teddy bear), gândăcel (little bug).

in Greek

πουλάκι [pul'ɑki] (little bird)

Is this a universal phenomenon that exists in all languages? Which other animal names are used?

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    You'd like a list from 7,000 languages? Perhaps a simpler question is, are there any languages which disallow such usage. – user6726 Dec 09 '20 at 15:51
  • no, a few would do. But if you think my question is inappropriate for this site I don't mind deleting it. I will try and find answers elsewhere. –  Dec 09 '20 at 16:07

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The Slavic languages, which are extremely rich in all kinds of diminutive and endearment forms and words, have tons of such animal names each.
Only some examples from Russian:

  • зайчик [ˈzajtʃɪk], зайка [ˈzajkɐ] ‘little hare’
  • зайчонок [zɐjˈtʃonək] ‘baby hare, leveret’
  • котик [ˈkotʲɪk] ‘little cat’
  • котёнок [kɐˈtʲonək] ‘kitten’
  • рыбка [ˈrɨpkə] ‘little fish’
  • поросёнок [pərɐˈsʲonək] ‘piglet’

The last one, ‘piglet’, is often used to bring children to the blush for being untidy, still it can well be used to show affection, too. In fact, practically any animal name can be used within a particular family to address children affectionately.

Yellow Sky
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  • This is so interesting. It reminds me of the Russain cartoon I would watch as a child (Ну, заец, погоди!") –  Dec 18 '20 at 14:08
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    Any idea where the comparison with a fish comes from? I don't really see what properties are in common. (The fairy tale with the golden fish maybe?) – Keelan Dec 18 '20 at 15:53
  • @Keelan - To tell the truth, I have no idea. Definitely it's not about pet fish, what remains is either the fairy tale with the golden fish or fish as tasty food (cf Engl. ‘sweet’). When used without the diminutive suffix, as рыба, it acquires offensive or derogatory meaning when applied to people: cold-blooded or slimy or glass-eyed or dumb. – Yellow Sky Dec 18 '20 at 16:20