I use the term 'Love' to EVERYONE - men, women, children. It is instinctive and never meant to be offensive, patronising, or insulting.
My use of the term stems from THREE factors:
1) I am Yorkshire born and bred.
2) I am a naturally very open and friendly person (in REAL life).
3) I grew up in a very, very, different era.
All three factors are relevant, but probably NONE so as much as the third.
The world has moved on dramatically from the simple 50's when I was a mere toddler.
It has moved on progressively faster and faster with each passing decade, and as usually happens, the greater the speed, the more likelyhood of things being forgotten or lost along the way;
Major things like courtesy, selflessness, community spirit, and minor things, such as CHEERINESS and FRIENDLINESS.
Whatever happened to people?
We are becoming a nation of inward looking,
selfish and miserable twats.
When I was a lad... And Old Shep was a pup - NO, that's an Elvis number.
When I was a lad the sound of the milkman and postman, and even people just passing, WHISTLING CHEERFULLY or calling out melodic chirpy greetings, such as ''MORNIN' LOVE' brightened our drab old terrace streets.
Where is that jolliness, that happiness, that chirpy friendliness now?
I will continue to smile and greet strangers in passing, and continue to call people love, and if anyone does not like that fact, then they go and insert their PC. where the 'Sun Don't Shine'.