Originally Posted by Squashed_Fly
They're just terms of endearment. Generally in life, I have more to worry about than whether someone has innocently called me mate, or bud, or hun.
But not everyone is as relaxed as I am about it. I once had a bloke threaten me in a bar for calling him mate, when I was working behind it! Out of probably 200 people I had said it to that night, only 1 took offence. Almost everyone else called it me back.
If he'd called you a c**t then I could understand your issue. But mate? Nah - you're just miserable! ;D ;D ;D :P
Besides, if he'd not said anything after the sorry, it could well have been misconstrued as sarcasm (which is why we follow it up with something endearing). You don;t want to be called sir, or m'lord, so that pretty much only leaves mate or dude as a bloke. Unless you would have preferred sweetheart???? :-*