Take the 2-minute tour ×

In the first days in a relationship, a girl welcomes a guy with "hey handsome". Would be "hey honey" an appropriate response?

share|improve this question
You could try handful :) You might be interested in our sister site, ell.stackexchange.com , which specifically caters to English Language Learners. –  coleopterist Mar 17 '13 at 17:18
Related. –  Robusto Mar 17 '13 at 17:42
I have seen the question before created this one. That one checks if you can say "handsome" as well to a woman. But, as far as I know, it is not the "normal" response for which I wanted ask here. –  Zahnfee Mar 19 '13 at 20:27

3 Answers 3

up vote 4 down vote accepted

The feminine equivalent to (usually, facetious) "Hey, handsome!" is...

"Hey, gorgeous!"

share|improve this answer

Pretty or beautiful are the most common words.


share|improve this answer

There is a Hank Williams song in which he says the following:

"Hey, good looking, what you got cooking? How's about cooking something up with me?"

While these sentences may confuse you with their idiom concerning food, and in answer to your question, the way Hank Williams addresses his girlfriend is still used today: good looking, or good lookin'. It means simply you are looking good (i.e., attractive, pretty, lovely, pulchritudinous, beautiful, easy-to-look-at, easy on the eyes, appealing, and so on). In everyday speech you could also say, "Hey, beautiful!" but not "Hey, pulchritudinous" or "Hey, pretty (or lovely, or easy-to-look-at or appealing)" .

As for the cooking metaphor, Williams is saying simply "What's going on? What are you doing now? Let's do it together and create something pleasurable. "

share|improve this answer

Your Answer


