Hi,

I´m new here - I also wondered about the word "canim". I am a guy and have a Turkish colleague, a girl who is 10 years younger than me. We have a close working relationship and are good friends. (We both live and work in Scandinavia.) Being a Scandinavian myself, I have tried to learn a little Turkish because I think it is a bit funny to see her face when I use Turkish words. I sometimes have called her "canim" or "güzelim", and she didn´t seem to mind. Like I wrote I am 10 years older than her so, I thought that it was probably obvious that it was in a "big brotherly" way that I used it, but maybe I am wrong. Maybe I have been disrespectful - I don´t know what the ladies out there think?

/P

I am pretty sure what you are doing when you call her dear or my beauty is fine because as you say you have a daily working relationship and are using it as a term of endearment. It is when young single girls are meeting turkish boys and they start to say this that it is more like a territory marker to keep other young men away.

Thanky very much peyote - I understand what you mean, point taken. Just wanted a woman´s opinion!

/P