Sometimes there’s no quicker way to irritate an uptight female then to refer to her as a babe.
Innocently uttering the phrase “Hey babe” will quickly get you into hot water with any girl who doesn’t have her irony detector on. On the defensive, they usually respond with something like “I’m not your babe.” But it’s like, I never said you were “my babe,” just that you were “a babe.” There’s a difference. Of course she could argue that just by using the word babe you are claiming some kind of possession over her merely through asserting the right to use the term(or any term) to describe her. However, this exchange tells you a lot about a person’s mindset. They have potentially poor comprehension skills. They are confrontational. They assume you have the worst intentions. They are insecure about the possibility of not being taken seriously. They want to look like a babe, but they would rather you personally not think of them that way or at the very least would prefer you use some modern euphemism like “stunning” instead.

One time I called a girl a babe on OKC in a message that was like “hey babe, are you down to get a smoothie sometime?” She told me she wasn’t interested, and so I was like “fair enough babe.” Then she just wrote back with “*Shannon” as if to signify her disapproval of my using the term. My final response was to say something like “Oh sorry, Shannon. You have pretty feet by the way.” I tried to picture the grossed out look she would have on her face as she signed off, as I had to squeeze in one more creepy affectation. Call a girl a babe and get a bitter response. She’s not interested in you and thinks you have leprosy/or she is an embittered feminist. Either way it’s better to find out sooner rather than later. Use the word. Bring the romance.