Since coming to the South, one phrase I have heard repeatedly is “love on.” “We’re just going to love on each other.” Is it me, or does that sound weird?

Why can’t we say “love each other”? The word love can be used to imply action, and doing something “on” someone else sounds rather gross to me. I understand that people say it with the best of intentions, and I appreciate that. However, I don’t want to be loved on; I want to be loved.

I could be reading too much into it, but it is something I have thought strange.