A Cuban woman living in Italy shared on TikTok the cultural clash she experienced with her Italian boyfriend due to the everyday use of affectionate expressions like "my love," "my life," and "my heart," which are common in Cuba but unfamiliar in European culture.
On Thursday, @ailetsantos posted a video explaining how her Italian boyfriend got confused whenever her Island friends addressed her with these terms of endearment. "Many times, my friends from Cuba would just write to me saying, 'my love, happy birthday,' 'my life, thank you so much, my heart, how are you?' And he thought they weren't just friends," the creator recounts.
The misunderstanding escalated to the point where the Italian began to suspect that these "friends" were more than just that. "It took me a long time to explain that in Cuba, it's normal to see someone you don't even know and greet them with 'my love, my life, good morning, how are you?'" Ailet shares in the 42-second clip.
A Day in Cuban Life: Affectionate Expressions
To illustrate the custom, the young woman provides specific examples from daily Cuban life: a waiter asking, "my heart, how would you like your water?" or her own mother entering the house with "my heart, good morning, how are you?"
It was this direct interaction with her environment that helped her boyfriend understand the reality. "It took time to explain it to him; he's obviously talked to my friends, my family, and realizes these are normal things," Ailet notes, acknowledging that the topic "has been a point of discussion" in the relationship more than once.
In Cuba, such expressions are a part of the colloquial dialect, showcasing warmth and social empathy without any romantic implications. A Cuban TikToker succinctly captured this in a previous post: "It's our way of showing empathy, it's our dialect. It's not about flirting."
Viral Trends: Cuban Experiences Abroad
The video is part of a growing trend among Cubans living in Italy who document their intercultural experiences on TikTok under the hashtag #cubanaenitalia. According to data from the Italian National Institute of Statistics, over 15,000 Cubans currently reside in the country.
This type of content has struck a chord with a wide audience before. In August 2025, a Swedish woman went viral mimicking her Cuban husband with phrases like "my love," garnering over 400,000 views. In April 2026, Cuban Blanca De Dios also starred in a viral video about her cultural clash with her Spanish partner Alberto, whom she met at a bar in Barcelona.
Ailet concluded her video description with a question aimed at other Latina women dating Europeans: "Tell me I'm not the only one, does this happen to you too?" It's an invitation that embodies the spirit of community and humor with which the Cuban diaspora navigates its cultural differences from abroad.
Understanding Cuban Cultural Expressions
Why do Cubans use terms like "my love" or "my heart"?
In Cuban culture, these affectionate terms are part of the colloquial dialect used to express warmth and social empathy, without romantic intent.
How did Ailet's Italian boyfriend come to understand Cuban expressions?
Through direct interaction with Ailet's friends and family, and her explanations, he realized these expressions are normal and not romantic.