People saying "my partner"

[Andrew NDB]

Is it just me, or in the past 5 years has "my girlfriend" or "my boyfriend" or "my husband" or "my wife" largely been replaced by "my partner"? I feel like it still popped up before that, but it's pretty much the default go-to now.

Kind of confusing. Like if a dude says, "My partner and I were looking at vacation spots" I'm mentally going, "Oh, you're a homosexual. I had no idea." When that's not necessarily the case at all.

Is anyone else getting this as well? And is this borne of some kind of sensitivity to LGBTQ relationships? If not, then what?

[Utrommaniac]

It's all up to people's personal tastes.

I personally would interpret boyfriend/girlfriend as an "unwed lover that I'm not living with", and partner as "unwed lover that I AM living with".

Other people might find boyfriend/girlfriend juvenile past a certain age, or find "partner" to be connotative of a more serious relationship.

[CyberCubed]

Wow, I was just thinking about this the other day too and I was going to make a thread about it. Amazing how we thought the same thing.

But yeah, this is weird to me. I often thought "my partner" meant same sex relationship. It also seems to have replaced, "my significant other" in the same fashion. Or even "my spouse." I've noticed this online a lot especially lately.

Also why do adults feel saying "my boyfriend/girlfriend" is kid-like? I know being a 20-30 something year old and saying, "I've got a girlfriend" makes you sound like a teenager, but...what else can you call it? I have "a woman friend?" "A man friend?"

[Prowler]

Sounds like an English language problem since no one here would say that... well gay men apparently like to say "o meu companheiro" meaning "my companion" when referring to their bfs. But not sure if that's nothing but a myth.

The most cringeworthy thing is teenagers(usually from the hood) referring to their gfs as "my dame".

[MsMarvelDuckie]

What's wrong with just saying "my girl/gal" or "my man/guy"? Same thing but a little more classy. Though I expect the usual suspects to pop in about how it sounds too possessive or whatever.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

What's wrong with just saying "my girl/gal" or "my man/guy"? Same thing but a little more classy. Though I expect the usual suspects to pop in about how it sounds too possessive or whatever.

Nothing wrong with that. It's not just men who say that. I've heard women referring to their husbands as "my man". People who get pissed at that must be very literal minded or something and they might as well get pissed at their boss referring to them as "my employee".

[Splinter the boss]

It depends. When teenagers speak, they usually say "boyfriend/girlfriend". When it's grown-ups they say "my partner".

[MsMarvelDuckie]

@ Prowler- Suddenly I feel like the main guy in "Roots", LOL!!! Yeah that was kind of what I was thinking too.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Splinter the boss

It depends. When teenagers speak, they usually say "boyfriend/girlfriend". When it's grown-ups they say "my partner".

But it's even coming up with "my husband" and "my wife." All of sudden even that is, "Oh, my partner and I were making dinner together" instead of "Oh, my wife and I..."

The most cringeworthy thing is teenagers(usually from the hood) referring to their gfs as "my dame".

What hood is that? Mostly they refer to them as "my b****" there. Females refer to their boyfriend as "my n****."

[Splinter the boss]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

But it's even coming up with "my husband" and "my wife." All of sudden even that is, "Oh, my partner and I were making dinner together" instead of "Oh, my wife and I..."

Really I'm not sure I've heard it being used in that context, then again I don't hang around adults much, I wouldn't know.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

But it's even coming up with "my husband" and "my wife." All of sudden even that is, "Oh, my partner and I were making dinner together" instead of "Oh, my wife and I..."



What hood is that? Mostly they refer to them as "my b****" there. Females refer to their boyfriend as "my n****."

I think it's an exclusive part of my country's rap culture or something. N**** isn't really used here and it's not like most people know that it's originally a very racist word anyways.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Dame is one of those words that was popular back in the days of guys like Capone. I suppose the newer gangs might think it just sounds cool because of that.

[Candy Kappa]

Not married or engaged, but we live together and have a mortage, so partner works fine in translation. The Norwegian term is pronounced the same as a English ethnic slur, so it's not a word that can be used instead like other Scandinavian words that's been adopted by the English language.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

Dame is one of those words that was popular back in the days of guys like Capone. I suppose the newer gangs might think it just sounds cool because of that.

Well I think rappers here use that word for girls/women so juvenile delinquents and pseudo ghetto folk adopt that slang as well.

[AT-Man]

Abolish everything else and call them "bae".

[CyberCubed]

Do people still use the term, "babe" nowadays? I know that was big back in the 90's.

[Splinter the boss]

Of course they do, as a matter of fact I heard it yesterday.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Heck my husband and I call each other babe all the time.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by AT-Man

Abolish everything else and call them "bae".

That's a Danish word for "poop".

[IndigoErth]

I'll admit it may sometimes make me then wonder the gender of said partner, but the use of it doesn't really bother me at all. Why should it... Gay or straight, their relationship has zero impact on me.

If anything, I tend to hear it as maybe somewhat of a "common law marriage" type situation... not 'official,' but girl/boyfriend might not express it enough?


"Babe" is definitely still used plenty...