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One of the strangest, yet most common ways people flirt with others is by calling themselves or the person they're flirting with "mommy" or "daddy". It is slightly odd, given that these are familial terms and sometimes end up giving incestuous vibes. However, there are several reasons why people may end up doing this:

  • It's a form of power dynamics. People associate parents with authority figures or control which is popular in domination fantasies.
  • It's associated with nurturing/protection. People may liken themselves or the person they like with how a parent cares for their children, but put it in the context of a romantic relationship.
  • It's familiar. People might genuinely see their parents in their partners, or seek out a similar dynamic.
  • The taboo connotations make the relationship thrilling. Even though it is not actually incest, using "mommy" or "daddy" gives incestuous vibes, which makes the relationship look "forbidden" and increases the desire for the relationship.

In the 1900s, this trope was normally played by female characters who tended to call the person they were flirting with "daddy". Male characters themselves also had a tendency to call themselves "daddy" to be flirtatious. However, around the 2000s, the use of the word "mommy" to describe a female love interest started popping up as well.

Sometimes overlaps with Power Dynamics Kink when the person calling someone "mommy" or "daddy" is doing it to be submissive, or with Sugar Daddy (where the relationship is sexual but not exactly romantic). Also overlaps with Fetishes Are Weird due to the incestuous vibes. Not to be confused with Parental Incest, in which an actual mother or father is involved, or Like Parent, Like Spouse, which is about the actual similarities between a person's love interest and their parents. No Real Life Examples, Please!


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Books 
  • Money Shot: Luke Kirk nearly gets the whole crew killed by addressing alien ruler Dien Pide as "daddy" in an orgasmic moment, as the Cockaignians are eugenics-obsessed heavy biotech users who view natural biological conception as repugnant.

    Fan Works 

    Films — Animation 
  • Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget: Played for Laughs. While introducing her chicken nuggets, Mrs. Tweedy shows a presentation where a boy eats them and says "I love you, mummy". The innuendo comes when the CEO of the restaurant tries the same nuggets and repeats these words to Mrs. Tweedy.
  • "Red Hot Riding Hood": Red's song at the nightclub involves her calling everyone "daddy" in a flirtatious manner. This trope is further exaggerated when she starts calling the patrons "pa" and "father", which lack the romantic connotations that "daddy" has.
  • Shrek the Third: In a case of Parental Bonus, this is implied to be the case with Prince Charming and Rapunzel, as at one point the former quietly dismisses the latter with, "Not now, kitten whiskers, Daddy will discuss this later."

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Blue Velvet: Frank Booth's "romantic" interactions with Dorothy Vallens, the woman he sexually extorts, carry shades of this, starting from when we first see Frank at Dorothy's apartment (quoted below), not to mention his moans/sobs of "Oh, mommy" and "Baby wants to fuck" later on during that same encounter.
    Dorothy: [nervously] Hello, Baby.
    Frank: Shaddup! It's "Daddy", you shithead! Where's my bourbon?! [long, annoyed sigh] Can't you fucking remember anything?
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Lorelei calls Gus "daddy", which gets confusing when she meets his father.
  • Megalopolis: When Clodio has an extramarital affair with Wow Platinum, his elderly uncle Crassus's Trophy Wife, she insists that he calls her "Auntie Wow" during coitus.
  • Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed: Velma is trying to flirt with her love interest, Patrick, by dressing in a leather catsuit and asking him "Who's your Mommy?" Patrick, at least as straight-laced as Velma is normally, is somewhat put off by this, nervously repeating "My Mommy?"
  • Skullduggery: A nurse (unsuccessfully) tries to seduce the protagonist by roleplaying as his mother.

    Jokes 
  • A priest sighs as he hears the confession of a young woman who Really Gets Around:
    For Pete's sake, it's "Forgive me Father, for I have sinned"! Not "Sorry daddy, I've been naughty"!

    Literature 
  • These Words Are True and Faithful: Ernie is a fixture in the local gay leather scene, where he is known as a dominant with a taste for younger, less overtly masculine men. He refers to himself or is referred to as "Daddy" a lot.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: In "Seeing Red", Warren, being a Casanova Wannabe with No Social Skills, tries to pick up a woman in a nightclub and calls himself "Daddy" while talking to her. Xander then criticizes the move, telling him incest is "not that sexy".
  • Burn Notice: Joked about in "Comrades" by Sam and Fi: Sam makes a scene at a mafiya-connected Russian restaurant to distract from Fi breaking into the back room. When she returns, Fi gets him out of a beatdown by The Don's goons by telling them "Daddy" is a Scatter Brained Senior. As they leave, Sam goes, "'Daddy'?" and Fi cracks, "Bet you never thought you'd hear me call you that..."
  • Friends: In "The One with the Lottery", Ross and Rachel mention to the others that they're referring to Rachel as "Mommy", in order to teach the word to their infant child, Emma. Ross proposes that they should also call him "Daddy", which leads Phoebe to teasingly flirt with him, much to his embarrassment.
    Phoebe: Is Daddy going to spank me?
    Ross: Well, that depends. Have you been a bad g— No, I can't.
  • The George Lopez Show: In "George Thinks Vic's Fiancée Is Lion About Being a Cheetah", Vic gets engaged to a woman young enough to be his daughter, leading to a hilariously uncomfortable moment between her and Angie (Vic's actual daughter).
    Vic: Now, princess...
    Lindsey AND Angie: Yes, Daddy?
    [uncomfortably long and awkward silence]
    George: Oh yeah, that's going in the wedding toast.
  • House of Cards (UK): Over the course of the first season, Mattie Storin and Francis Urquhart develop a twisted relationship that eventually extends to sex, during which Mattie gives Urquhart the pet-name of "daddy". Quite apart from the fact that Urquhart is about thirty years older than her, it's also a sign of the horribly unhealthy power dynamics, since Mattie spends most of her time on screen as a pawn in Urquhart's Machiavellian schemes. Even Urquhart seems shocked by the pet-name at first, but soon finds it intoxicating, even connecting it to his own ambitions. After realizing she's become a liability, he even asks Mattie to call him "daddy" one last time, and she does so — as she's flung to her death.
    "Playing with the hopes and dreams of a daughter. Now gentle, now hard. Rebuking and rewarding. Chastising and forgiving. The pleasures of a father... of a father of daughters. What greater power is there than that? Why should a man want more? Why should I yearn to be everybody's daddy?"
  • How I Met Your Mother: Barney Stinson often says "Daddy's home!" or "Who's your daddy?" to girls he's trying to bang. In "Baby Talk", he and the friend group have a discussion about this, saying it would be weird for a woman to call herself "mommy" in the situation. Barney takes it as a challenge to pick up a woman by acting like a child himself, and ends up sleeping with a woman who does this... and gets weirded out by it.
  • My Wife and Kids: In "Jr.'s Risky Business", Michael and Jay go to the opera to spend some time together. They enter a box, when they are soon joined by an elderly man and a young woman. Jay tells the pair how good it is that a daughter is taking her father to the opera, while the young woman corrects her, saying the old man is her "daddy", with all that it implies. Jay and Michael turn their faces away in disgust.

    Music 

Examples by creator:

  • CupcakKe is prone to using the word "daddy" in her sex songs. Occasionally, she'll instead use the Spanish "papi".
    Papi, wanna see a trick that's worth it?
    Juggle your balls in my mouth; deepthroat circus

Examples by title:

  • Third Eye Blind's song "10 Days Late", about an unexpected Teen Pregnancy, includes the line "Funny how she always cried out daddy."
  • Played for Laughs in the song "She's Got Issues" by The Offspring:
    You told me a hundred times
    how your father left and he's gone.
    But I wish you wouldn't call me "daddy"
    when we're getting it on.

    Video Games 
  • Umamusume: Pretty Derby: Resident Team Mom Super Creek likes to play Goo Goo Babies with the trainer, which is exactly what it sounds like. During the game, she treats the trainer as a baby, and they have to play along. If you win her career, you have to play a round with her in private just so she doesn't ruin her reputation by acting this way in public.

    Visual Novels 
  • Being a ΔΙΚ:
    • If the MC chooses to roleplay with Jade, she asks him to call her "mommy" during sex; more bizarrely, she even calls him "son". This is made even worse with the reveal that this is also what she and her actual adult son call each other. Notably, the other major character who can be in an Age-Gap Romance with Tremolo, Isabella, does not stand for any such talk; the one time he jokingly calls her "mommy" has her immediately ask him to never call her that again.
    • Played for Laughs in Episode 11, where, if on her path, Sage shows up to the MC's room Drowning Her Sorrows after having heard her adoptive father confess that he never wanted to adopt her or her brother, and the MC can choose to make the obvious joke on hearing that she feels like she doesn't have a father anymore.
      Sage: My father... My so-called role model never wanted to be my dad. No one wants to be my dad.
      MC: I... can be your daddy.
      Sage: [laughing] What the hell is wrong with you?
      MC: Lots.
  • Yet Another Killing Game: Played for Laughs at the start of Day 2. The player wakes up to find Cecilia leaving the bathroom wearing only a Modesty Towel; should they choose to chide her for her shamelessness and order her to get dressed, Cecilia blurts out "YES, MOMMY! Er, [player]!", then quietly admits that it "felt kinda nice" being barked at.

    Web Animation 
  • The Amazing Digital Circus: In the episode "Untitled", Bubble calls himself "Daddy Bubble" at one point, much to Caine's disgust.
  • Helluva Boss:
    • In "OZZIE'S", when trying to get into the titular club, Blitzø flirts with the bouncer, calling him "daddy". He promptly gets chucked into a dumpster.
    • In the short “Mission: Weeaboo-Boo”, Blitzo is hired to take out one Emberlynn Pinkle, who, much to his annoyance, turns out to be an Otaku who's horny for demons, leading to this moment (which doubles as a Shout-Out to Hazbin Hotel):
      Emberlynn: Are you putting some sort of nasty spell over me? 
      Blitzo: What? No, I'm literally just standing here, lady.
      Emberlynn: If you say so, Master. I mean... [flips hair; lustfully] Daddy.
  • HFIL: King Cold is revealed to have been given a job in management after he graduated his rehabilitation, now being the "Honorable Atonement Director and Enrichment Specialist". While he's visiting the cul-de-sac, he tells for everyone there to call him "Daddy", even though Freeza is the only one there who's his actual child. This leads to a few humorous exchanges.
    King Cold: [to Cell, who he's carrying in his arms] You shush!
    Cell: [meekly] Yes, Daddy.
  • Red vs. Blue has this exchange between Captain Flowers, Church and Tucker:
    Captain Flowers: If it weren't for the chain of command, I'd pick you both up, give you a big bear hug and make you call me Daddy.
    Church: Um...thank god for the chain of command?

    Webcomics 
  • Ménage à 3: Discussed; as Sonya and Yuki are about to have sex, Yuki asks if she can call Sonya "onee-san". Sonya is creeped out by it meaning "big sister", and when Yuki compares it to using "daddy", Sonya laughs it off until the Fridge Logic hits.
    Yuki: Is it any different from when you gaijin call your men "daddy"?
    Sonya: Nonono, totally different context. We say that because- ...Why do we say that?
    Yuki: Because your culture is perverse.
    Sonya: What is wrong with us?
    Yuki: Now come on, Onee-sama, come to Daddy.
  • Oglaf: The "who's your daddy?" phrase is discussed in the storyline "Ranger Ron Returns", among other preparations for an orgy (intended to embarrass the Redeemer of Purity into returning to Heaven instead of ending the world):
    Know who your daddy is. People will ask.

    Web Videos 
  • Dragon Ball Z Abridged has a variation when Bulma meets Trunks. She's not aware he's her Kid from the Future, and so unwittingly chooses the absolute worst possible combination of words to hit on him.
    Bulma: So hey, like, just gonna throw this out there... you're really cute.
    Future Trunks: Uh... well, my mom always said I was a cute kid.
    Bulma: Oh, a momma's boy, huh? I'll be your mommy...
    Future Trunks: [screaming internally]
  • In the Dropout sketch "Your Contact List is a Mess", a kidnapper holding Siobhan, Rekha, and Ally hostage fails to find anyone in their contact list to call for ransom money because none of their contacts are labeled properly. He finally finds "Daddy ;)" amidst a sea of Tinder dates in Ally's contacts, only for them to clarify that it is not their father before a woman picks up the phone.

    Western Animation 
  • Ed, Edd n Eddy: Marie Kanker occasionally shouts "Come to mama!" while assaulting the Eds, especially her self-proclaimed "boyfriend" Double D.
  • Hazbin Hotel: In the pilot episode ''That's Entertainment'', when Angel Dust is captured by Sir Pentious in exchange, he calls him "daddy". The trope is parodied when Sir Pentious calls him "son", which Angel Dust doesn't enjoy.
  • Alluded to in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Kid Stuff" after everyone has been restored to adulthood, with Wonder Woman still holding Etrigan in her arms:
    Etrigan: [grinning] Mommy? [Wonder Woman drops him] Ow!
  • The Legend of Vox Machina: At the end of "The Killbox", Scanlan joins Kaylie for what he thinks will be a night of hot sex and, as she ties him to the bed, he assumes she's into bondage and tells her he's not opposed to be called "daddy" either. To his horror, this kinky banter turns out to be very true when Kaylie draws a sword on him and reveals herself as his illegitimate daughter.
    Scanlan: Wait... I'M DADDY?!
  • Teen Titans Go!: Beast Boy, who has a crush on Raven, has a tendency to call her "mama".

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