'Love' is generally a platonic term in the UK, and a lot of people use the term love even if you've never met or it's your neighbour.
Your mother can call you 'love', likewise your spouse. The actual word is very benign here - it can become romantic but that depends on your context.
Even 'darling' is acceptable as a greeting, i.e 'hey up, darlin' ' - that's just a friendly way of saying hello and a woman could call another woman 'love' or 'darling' without it being seen as sexual.
I've been referred to as 'sweetie' by a male friend, which was not flirting, but just a sort of 'I am on friendship terms with you' name.
Another term which is used around here is 'duck' - which is a slang word for 'love' or 'dear' and is used a lot in this region although if you went down South people would look at you strangely for using the term.
One man who said 'hello, love' was strimming the grass and he smiled at me with sort of 'I fancy you' kind of eyes so I smiled back and said 'hello' and the 2nd one was getting out of a truck and said the same but I didn't make eye contact with him and just said 'hello' - I was surprised that anyone spoke to me as they rarely do in this neighbourhood.
One term which IS sexual is 'babe' and contrary to popular belief it is used to describe BOTH sexes. H and I call each other babe romantically and when in bed, so if a man called me 'babe' I would be worried (!).
We also call each other dear and dearest in my immediate family. All my dd's get referred to as 'dear' affectionately, and H is always 'dearest' - the 'est' part of the word implies his sexual R with me. He also refers to me as 'dearEST' and the kids as 'dear' and I know if he does this with me, he wants a favour (not necessarily sexual).
We also say it in a joking way if one of us is nagging the other one or if we're bored or not listening, we say 'yes dearest, whatever you say.'
But yes, having 2 men notice me in one day and then Gabriel saying I'm beautiful - it had my PMA going through the ceiling
H is very lucky and he just doesn't realise how much.
