While I believe that the members here who have taken offense at the term "baby" are to a larger extent justified, I will, in the interests of fairness all around, point out 2 things:
1. - WestCoast explained his use of the term as that of the common slang; somehow several members have overlooked this even when quoting his explanation. There is a use of the term "baby" that isn't pejorative or demeaning to women, that is common in American and English slang. Examples (and for teh sake of making the point, the person addressing the hypothetical me here is male) - "Hey AJ, where do you live?" "Vegas, baby!" Or another example that I've used several times in real context at autocross events - "Hey AJ, I just ran a 42.385 that last lap, I'm going to catch you! What's your best clean run of the day so far?" "42.286 baby!" or "42.286 - you better find your braking points 'cuz I'm only gonna get faster baby!" WC indicated that his use of the term was in this context. Let us all lament the limits of a textual format where the nuance of intonation are unavailable.
2. - In a related but unrelated subtext, I personally find it VERY amusing that dancers would take umbrage at this term. A dead giveaway that a girl I'm meeting for the first time who knows where is or has been a dancer is the consistent use and overuse of "baby", "sweety", "sugar", "honey", and the like in normal conversation. Some people do this anyway, but because conversations ITC rarely use first names, I find that a girl who spends a lot of time in said clubs as a dancer tends to carry this over OTC a LOT. It was actually my most recent exes pet peeve, and is something MM and I joke about all the time. Bartenders or cocktail waitresses are also guilty, lol.
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