In fact there’s a technique to the insanity of dialog hearts. Lengthy earlier than the candies hit drugstore cabinets (a seasonal harbinger of spring that I proceed to understand), sweet firms refine their messaging, shelling out with dated slang like FAX ME and introducing new phrases of endearment like BAE, as Kim Severson reported in The Occasions this week. As soon as, within the late ’90s or thereabouts, I acquired somewhat pastel coronary heart with the phrases DEFRAG ME printed on it. Foolish, but additionally touching: Reorganize me, enhance my efficiency, make me make sense.

I like imagining a sweet conglomerate’s makes an attempt to universalize the language of affection. What are the exact combos of phrases that make folks really feel adored? It’s tough. Final yr, one of many main dialog coronary heart producers went with a supportive theme — I want I’d seen the one which stated FEAR LESS, a robust directive to obtain from a sweet. This yr, it’s going with a pet theme, acknowledging all these now-adolescent pandemic puppies howling into the midwinter afternoon whereas their house owners are at work.

Essentially the most intimate phrases of endearment don’t essentially translate. Pet names and pillow discuss usually sound ridiculous after they spill previous the boundaries of a whispered congress. Even so, that feeling you get if you hear folks name their companions by their secret sobriquets is a potent combination of alienating and thrilling. A bizarre window into different folks’s intimacy, like being proven one web page of their diary.

Sweet hearts are the alternative. They’re broad, democratic, all-inclusive. Their messages are marvels of economic system, restricted to 9 letters, fewer if there’s a W concerned. PURR FECT won’t have the identical private ring that an earnestly penned love letter does, however I’m cheered that individuals nonetheless write the hearts. How lengthy till the sweet firms let synthetic intelligence decide the language of affection? Let’s hope now we have a number of extra years of BE MINE and SAY YES earlier than the robots take over.

CULTURE CALENDAR

🍿 “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” (Friday): I’ll admit, it’s somewhat odd to advocate this newest Marvel film — the third within the franchise that stars Paul Rudd — prefer it’s some obscure movie that wants an additional enhance. But the first attraction is the all the time compelling Jonathan Majors as a villain named … Kang the Conqueror. I’ll watch him in something. (In lower than a month, I’ll even be there for Majors in “Creed III.”)

📚 “Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Household Legacy” (Tuesday): The New York Occasions journalists Rachel Abrams and James B. Stewart are behind this propulsive e-book in regards to the closing years of the Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone and the scandal that introduced down the CBS head Leslie Moonves. As our reviewer Adam Davidson writes, it’s exhausting “to think about anybody who reads this e-book not coming to some clear conclusions: Wealth and energy can metastasize till they turn out to be poisonous, destroying households, firms and numerous lives.”

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Chocolate Pudding With Raspberry Cream

Valentine’s Day falls on a Tuesday this yr, which may be inconvenient if you wish to whip up a do-it-yourself deal with to your darling. However right here’s Yossy Arefi to the rescue along with her bittersweet chocolate puddings with raspberry cream. A pantry-friendly mixture of cocoa, sugar, milk and eggs, it may be made virtually fully prematurely. Stir the pudding collectively this weekend every time you will have half an hour to spare, then let it chill till Tuesday. The topping — a pretty-in-pink mixture of whipped cream and recent berries — is dolloped on simply earlier than serving. Fudgy, fruity and creamy, it’s a crowd-pleasing dessert that, on Valentine’s Day, is even higher served for 2.

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REAL ESTATE

A Brooklyn transformation: “If we have been ever going to make a dream dwelling, this could be it.”

Settling the property: Are you able to purchase your sibling’s share of a household home?

What you get for $370,000: A 3-bedroom dwelling in Indianapolis; a two-bedroom condominium in Waitsfield, Vt.; or an early Nineteenth-century farmhouse in Washington, Ga.

The hunt: A pair simply wished an condo with closets. Which Brooklyn condominium did they select? Play our recreation.

LIVING

Make a romantic dinner

If Melissa Clark’s suggestion of pudding has you eager about a Valentine’s Day meal, right here’s an concept for dinner: Attempt firing up the burner for a comfy hot-pot meal. Making ready meats, greens and root greens in a simmering broth on the desk is a stunning approach to get pleasure from one another’s firm. In Wirecutter’s information to sizzling pot, consultants advocate a conveyable butane or induction burner as a tabletop warmth supply and a large, shallow pot. A Dutch oven, braiser and even well-seasoned wok work — or you may spring for a stunning break up pot. Pour in a soup base, and deal with your like to a sluggish, luxurious feast. — Marilyn Ong

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