I wonder where some of our colloquial expressions of love originated? Like when a proud grandmother leans over her darling grandbaby and says, “Tootsy wootsy, you little shugums-woogums-cutie-pie, I just love you TO DEATH!” Or, “Hey there you little sweetsie-cola-honey-bundle, I love you TO PIECES (or bits)!”
The baby talk is automatic – I get that part. But my question is this. Why do we say these things about death and being fractured? Why don’t we say, “I love you to LIFE!” Or, “I love you to WHOLENESS?”
This baffles me. But then again, I know I put too much weight on words.
I guess the death comment is supposed to be a way of saying, “I will love you unconditionally until death.” Then why don’t we say that? And the pieces comment is supposed to be about loving a person’s every little thing, the way they hold silverware or tilt their head sideways or look with big, goony eyes at chocolate cake. “I will love every teeny bit of you, everything you are and do and will ever be, faults and all.”
At the very least I think we should start saying, “I will love you AS LONG AS YOU LIVE” and “I love EVERY STINKIN’ BIT (piece) of you.”
But that’s just what I think.
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