Aïe….
I can recommend Tintin/Asterix books for a range of useful descriptors!
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? Not for normal people it isn’t. Petite tête de choufleur is not a phrase I have heard in my entire life.
But I do call my OH mon petit chou when I want to annoy him!
Cabbage not cauliflower 
[quote=“vero, post:62, topic:41260”]som
Petite tête de choufleur is not a phrase I have heard in my entire life.
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Well! It seems that you’ve had a very limited existence on this Earth. Probably need to travel more, or try living in some other countries. There’s probably lots of places where people address each other as ‘my little cauliflower’, ‘my darling brocolli’ or ‘my dear asparagus’ all the time…
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None of those was mentioned. What was said was that “little cauliflower head” is a French expression of endearment: it isn’t. RTFT 
Didn’t say it was or wasn’t!
Mind you, would never consider addressing OH as ‘my little kohl-rabi’. And ‘mon cher rutabaga’ probably wouldn’t cut the mustard!
Is German, kohl is cabbage, kohlrabi in French is chou-rave.
Correction:
Let’s not get too pedantic. I always thought it was ‘chou-fleur’ because that is quite pretty, unlike cabbage. I was a child in a French speaking country, so that is what I heard.
You may not have heard it yet but it is sweet
We use it more to qualify sweet creatures or behaviour, XYZ est chou! Ah qu’il est chou! Often, Il est trop chou! Marie-Antoinette referred to her baby as le chou d’amour. My new little hens are very chou. (It is invariable).
Me too 
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All depends on the tone!
We do say “vieille branche”, or at least men of a certain age do, to each other. It is intended to be humorous and informal.
This is beginning to sound a bit like our friendly arguement with our Sunderland friends and how we disagree regarding the word ‘bonnie’. In the north of England and in Scotland it means a beautiful woman whereas as you come south through Nottinghamshire it is a polite way of saying ‘fat’ . 
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Understandably, considering the history of famines in China, someone saying “Oh, you have gained weight!” may be considered as a compliment. So too, being elderly = wisdom.
Why did I leave???
I definitely agree for Europe and many other places, but I lived in the M/E for a while and apart from acquiring a few words and phrases in Arabic to be polite, it was all a mystery to me. My late wife had a gift for languages, even picking up a reasonable smattering of Zulu and Xhosa when we were in SA but Arabic stumped even her.
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Aïe !! or just squeal
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I don’t join local clubs and associations - not because I don’t speak french but because none of them interest me . I didn’t join clubs in the UK - don’t see why I should change just because I’m in another country.
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Fair enough… we’re all different.
Working fulltime and caring for family left little time back in UK… but here it was a whole new ballgame.
OH already had a classic car… so we signed up straight away to the Paris Club… that was the start and things just snowballed…
I answered a call for volunteers at the school… oh that has been fun !!
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At the risk of dragging this thread off topic, what car if you don’t mind me asking?