There do. All the terms of endearment we have are demeaning, cutesy, or too casual. They're not loving words. Girlfriend/boyfriend? People use it when they've dated for two weeks and will be broken up by three. For crying out loud, some FIFTH-GRADERS use it. "Significant other" is still too technical. What's left? "Lover" is going to raise some eyebrows these days; it used to be acceptable. My honey? Yechh. In Chinese, you can say "my beloved one," which is quite nice, but sounds pretentious in English. I think there are some nice terms in Japanese, too. English just doesn't cut it in this area--usually it has a plethora of synonyms with various shades of meaning, but not here. It's bothersome and, really, a little bit sad, I think.