We have them, but they're regional and require tone to add the nuances, instead of the word being a pretty straight-forward meaning (outside of the flips of sarcasm). Or more like, we have them, but in English, it's something buried in the language, not necessarily spelled out, but still regional. Like the difference between calling someone precious ("oh, she's just so precious") which usually operates on a level of familial or long-time-friend intimacy but only from elder to younger; a child wouldn't refer to her god-mother as precious. For a woman you've just met, who's older than you, to call you precious means she's kinda taking the same claims on a relationship (of a certain intimacy) that Kenshin is doing, if not so carefully spelled out; I daresay most folks wouldn't be entirely aware of why they go along (or get cranky at it), only that they have this specific reaction to someone doing that.

Like the way I get very cranky if someone new-to-me calls me by the diminutive version of my name + nickname. That's common enough in the South, but it's still only something that's done from elder to younger. I don't like it when older strangers do it, but if my step-daughter does it, I don't find it funny at all, but incredibly offensive, if not outright infuriating. Japan may have the benefit of spelling it out -- that is, Kaoru is likely well aware of the implications of the -dono suffix, but if I met an older man at her age and he called me 'Miss H', I would take it with the same respect levels -- because that's lower-to-higher, as opposed to 'Missy' or even diminutive-version, which are both definitely higher-to-lower.

aaaaand there I go rambling again. Sorry. I was trying to read this article about intersectionality until I knocked up against epistemic and aphoria and went OMG JARGON IDEK OMG and decided I needed chocolate instead.