:: the calling ::

The unknown number that seems to be appearing on my cell phone almost everyday has sort of become a daily habit or in fact, dosage if you put it in terms of 'something that can get addictive.'

Last night, we talked about bad politics and equally bad politicians.
She with her third world countries and me with my Malay feudalism.
She told me to run for presidency, I told her to shut up.
I can't even run my own life for goodness sake.
We laughed over our choice of books over the years. Once, I can't get enough of those romantic novels of Dukes, Viscounts and Barons who has all the time in the world to rescue damsels in distress or in the end marry gorgeous princesses (and the fact that I used to cry over these kind stories never cease to amaze me).

So today, we broach the subject of rudeness.
Particularly one that involves greeting each other.
See, only on rare occasions will we say hi or hello over the phone at every start of a conversation and even rare-r occasions when either of us decides to say 'Assalamualaikum'.
For most of the time, it will go like this - 'Oi, bodoh. Buat apa?'
Nope, no loving tender care or whatsoever.
And because its been 8 years, 'bodoh' (stupid) becomes a bearable word coming from her for in reply of course you will say 'bodoh' back.
We decided to get a little bit more creative in this name calling.
And sort of shared what our peers are calling their loves one.

I called the man 'By' but because when you pronounced it, the spelling of 'By' and 'Bi' makes no difference, its a good term to call at every mood. By for baby when you are deliriously happy or Bi for Babi when you are raving mad.
Some people call 'sayang' or in short 'ayang'. I think that's sweet although I can never imagined myself calling someone that UNLESS I have an ulterior motive of wanting something. Ahem.
The married ones often call their beloved 'abang' or in short 'bang' (boleh jadi bangau lah geng).
The 'modern' married ones I've known sometimes call their spouses 'Fey' or 'Bub/By' - short for wifey and hubby.
She told me one of her acquaintance 'Hun' for honey but if you pronounced it could be Han-Tu.
Some has 'Ling' - darling.
And yes, the list gets going.

We wanted to call each other lovingly or for a start in a doting, polite manner instead of 'Oi, bodoh'.
We came up with 'Ver' - short for lover (but crossed it out immediately since its very inappropriate.)
Then we had 'sweets', 'muchi' and other weird terms.
And because we could not reach a common understanding, we finally decided to stick to what we call each other best - Bodoh.
Though now we separate the word into half.
She is the bods and I'm the dohs.

But since the bond is still going on strong, we shall not make a big fuss on this name calling.
For if you love, the name will 'transpire' somewhere inside your soul and then somewhere along the way imprinted in your brain cells.

Who says I'm not romantic Bods? Dingdong.