• PhobosAnomaly@feddit.uk
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    2 months ago

    I do it for two reasons: partly because it’s fuck all business to anyone else (within reason) what the status of my relationship is.

    Mainly though, because it generally messes with folk because they don’t understand what it means, and feel compelled to ask silly questions about it.

    • otp@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      Mainly though, because it generally messes with folk because they don’t understand what it means, and feel compelled to ask silly questions about it.

      Yeah, this is my favourite part of it.

  • Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Mine and I are getting married this week and we were both excited to see “spouse” as an option on the documents.

    We are now spouse and spouse.

  • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.uk
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    2 months ago

    I’m a millennial and I’ve always referred to my partner as such. Boyfriend and girlfriend always seemed so weirdly juvenile, and it’s interesting to leave things ambiguous for people who are immediately expecting to categorise you.

    • shastaxc@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Same. It’s also just a better generic term. You can say “all my partners” instead of “my boyfriend, girlfriend, and wife”. So much easier and still accurate.

  • njm1314@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I mean I get it, there’s an age at which referring to someone as your boyfriend or girlfriend feels a little lame.

  • Mac@mander.xyz
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    2 months ago

    What else are you supposed to say after “Howdy”?
    There are no other legitimate options.

  • Hegar@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    My parents have always referred to each other as their partner, so that’s what I’ve always done. It’s just normal.

    Since moving to the US people get so weird about it. I had a boss’s boss ask me why I call my wife my partner in a skip-level. I was so confused I just stared at her and said “What?” It was like being ask why I think oranges are citrus fruit.

  • fitgse@sh.itjust.works
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    2 months ago

    My spouse and I just use SO (esso) for significant other. I like it more than partner as it is explicitly a romantic or at least very important relationship.

  • YaksDC@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    This is super common in most other English speaking countries and has been for years. Well before the culture wars.

  • SirEDCaLot@lemmy.today
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    2 months ago

    I agree with this a lot. Boyfriend or girlfriend is the person you are romantically attached to. Partner is a MUCH stronger word, it implies teamwork and shared purpose; the understanding that you have each other’s backs.

    There are also plenty of people who are married for whom the word partner does not apply. It’s sad.

    I think a lot of people reject the title ‘partner’ because for a very long time before gay marriage was a thing, there was only ‘civil partnerships’ or ‘civil unions’ and thus ‘partner’ was the only accurate term, ‘wife’ or ‘husband’ couldn’t apply as they weren’t legally married. So they see ‘partner’ as a sort of ‘almost as good’ runner up.

    • mipadaitu@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Back in the day it did sound weird. Partner was usually a business relationship, not a romantic one, and it was almost exclusively used by the LGBT crowd.

      More gender neutral terms are good, but they’re still going to sound odd to folks who spent 40+ years hearing the terms used in a different way. That’s just how progress goes, older folks eventually will either get used to it, or be the weird relative ignored at holidays.