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Why do people say 'partner' instead of girlfriend / boyfriend / husband (etc)

  • 01-07-2012 02:46AM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,246 ✭✭✭✭B.A._Baracus


    Just a random unimportant thread :p

    Why do people refer to others as their 'partner'? ... Instead of girlfriend / boyfriend / wife / husband etc.
    I understand its a 'mature' thing to say. For example a 41 year old man dating someone doesnt want to come off as a 15 year old by saying "shes my gurlfriend" - But you actually see married people saying partner :confused: Not only that but young people too. Could be only with them six months :pac:

    Of course when it comes to homosexual people I perfectly understand the use of it. Its a nice elegant way to state relationships. But, that makes me think... I never heard the use of "partner" until homosexual people started to adobt it to discribe relationships. So ... could it be a 'pc' thing? :confused:

    After all. My girlfriend is my girlfriend. Should we get engaged. She is my fiance. Should we get married she is my wife. Should the aforementioned fall apart I don't see alot of people refering to their ex-wife as "ex-partner" :p


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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,798 ✭✭✭Local-womanizer


    What difference does it really make though?

    I would understand if you introduced your partner as " This is yer wan I'm riding"

    Partner/wife/girlfriend, at the end of the day no one really gives a toss!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,246 ✭✭✭✭B.A._Baracus


    What difference does it really make though?

    I would understand if you introduced your partner as " This is yer wan I'm riding"

    Partner/wife/girlfriend, at the end of the day no one really gives a toss!

    Just a random unimportant thread

    :P


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,643 ✭✭✭Father Damo


    Back in college one of the lecturers mentioned something about his "partner", it started off some pretty homophobic behind his back chat about him (we were all only 18 mind, fresh out of secondary). Dont know why anyone would say it tbh. Partner to me means in a business sense.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 31,859 ✭✭✭✭Sharpshooter


    no one really gives a toss!

    Apart from those who don't have a girlfriend/boyfriend/partner....


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 34,788 ✭✭✭✭krudler


    "this is the woman i'm currently seeing while my divorce is finalised and she's legally separated and fighting for child custody" doesnt have the same ring to it.

    its just a term to keep things simple really,mostly hear more mature people using it, you rarely hear someone in their 40s call someone their boyfriend/girlfriend.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,561 ✭✭✭✭gammygils


    Partner in Life I suppose.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,234 ✭✭✭Dr. Kenneth Noisewater


    I don't know why, but if I'm talking to someone I don't know and they mention their 'partner', I immediately suspect that they are gay.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 31,859 ✭✭✭✭Sharpshooter


    The term Gay or Homosexual would not enter my mind re discussing the term Partner, it escapes me why it was even mentioned in the first post tbh.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,059 ✭✭✭Sindri


    Because it's factually correct?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,652 ✭✭✭fasttalkerchat


    Unless it was an older person I would assume they are gay. An older person it could be that they are not married and don't want to say girl/boyfriend.
    In a business context it could be a business partner I suppose.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 13,029 ✭✭✭✭Chuck Stone


    I like to say 'this is my current partner'.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,246 ✭✭✭✭B.A._Baracus


    The term Gay or Homosexual would not enter my mind re discussing the term Partner, it escapes me why it was even mentioned in the first post tbh.

    I created this thread to have a mature discussion. But instantly you had to comment about the fact I mentioned Homosexual people in my post. Even tho a very large percentage of Homosexual people like to refer to their significant other as their "partner" AND in which I stated I understood the choice of expression.

    Quite frankly, how you are a mod baffles me.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,499 ✭✭✭✭DEFTLEFTHAND


    I don't know, is it some sort of solidarity P.C bullsh1t now that being gay is acceptable in society?


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,395 ✭✭✭✭mikemac1


    I created this thread to have a mature discussion.

    Should have posted in humanities forum then :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 412 ✭✭Akarinn


    Its better then saying,.

    "dis be the bitch i be bangin"


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 288 ✭✭yoursaviour1989


    I'd just like the shift tbh


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,257 ✭✭✭✭Rabies


    I'd just like the shift tbh

    You need to set your targets higher.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,293 ✭✭✭1ZRed


    I pretty much think they're gay if they say partner. Alright I get it if you're together with them for years and bf/gf doesn't sound as serious but if you actually feel that way, put a ring on it ffs!

    I Don't need them fucking up my gaydar with this 'partner' bs :rolleyes:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 31,859 ✭✭✭✭Sharpshooter


    I created this thread to have a mature discussion. But instantly you had to comment about the fact I mentioned Homosexual people in my post. Even tho a very large percentage of Homosexual people like to refer to their significant other as their "partner" AND in which I stated I understood the choice of expression.

    Quite frankly, how you are a mod baffles me.



    I gave my opinion, and quite frankly how you can say you started this thread to have a mature discussion when you posted...
    Just a random unimportant thread :p

    and then kick off when you disagree with what I posted baffles me.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 288 ✭✭yoursaviour1989


    Rabies wrote: »
    You need to set your targets higher.

    You should see my face :p


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,293 ✭✭✭1ZRed


    Rabies wrote: »
    You need to set your targets higher.

    Or lower??;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,776 ✭✭✭Jhcx


    "ex-partner" :p

    Wasn't that a Van once?
    Was that not a Van once?
    A Van once was a Partner a Partner she was he. When the Partner got too old she was a partner no more to be. :D

    Anyway dont you refer to your work colleague as your partner?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,778 ✭✭✭✭Kold


    Girlfriend is kinda silly sounding. Something quite childish about it.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 5,635 ✭✭✭xsiborg


    Just a random unimportant thread :p

    Why do people refer to others as their 'partner'? ... Instead of girlfriend / boyfriend / wife / husband etc.
    I understand its a 'mature' thing to say. For example a 41 year old man dating someone doesnt want to come off as a 15 year old by saying "shes my gurlfriend" - But you actually see married people saying partner :confused: Not only that but young people too. Could be only with them six months :pac:

    Of course when it comes to homosexual people I perfectly understand the use of it. Its a nice elegant way to state relationships. But, that makes me think... I never heard the use of "partner" until homosexual people started to adobt it to discribe relationships. So ... could it be a 'pc' thing? :confused:

    After all. My girlfriend is my girlfriend. Should we get engaged. She is my fiance. Should we get married she is my wife. Should the aforementioned fall apart I don't see alot of people refering to their ex-wife as "ex-partner" :p

    i completely understand where the OP is coming from, i dont give it an awful lot of thought myself, but when i actually hear someone refer to their boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband, etc as their 'partner' or 'life partner', 'signifigant other', 'other half', it just plain and simple hurts my ears and makes me shudder!

    of COURSE all these terms stem from the fact that some people seek to be politically correct by using an all encompassing generic term, and thats why it annoys me! to me these terms just come across as some attempt at creating "androgynous equality for all", and they actually take the meaning out of the signifigance of the other person in your life as an individual in their own right. being somebody's wife or husband IS more signifigant than just being their girlfriend or boyfriend, but because society has evolved beyond the norms of the old structures of relationships and we now have more people living together without being married ("co-habiting", my fúcking ears!), we have "fúck buddies", etc, relationships have become very complex, so to fulfill some people's need to categorise, simplify and label everything, we now have all encompassing generic terms like "partner".

    i know for myself when people started referring to my girlfriend as my "partner", to me she was more signifigant than "just" my partner, or even "just" my girlfriend, and so she is now my wife, and i always make a point of correcting people when they use these non-specific, androgynous, generic terms.

    my wife is my wife, not my partner, not my life partner, not my signifigant other, not my other half, or even my better half, and i have no qualms about correcting those who seem to think its perfectly fine to belittle her signifigance to me as an individual in her own right, just to make themselves feel more comfortable.

    when it becomes socially acceptable to ignore the signifigance of an individual who has chosen to spend the rest of their life with you- i dont want to live on this planet any more!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,561 ✭✭✭Martyn1989


    Ive never introduced my gf as my partner but Id imagine I would only use the term if I felt I was talking to a nosey person and didn't want to give them that info on the 'official' status of my relationship. for the most part it would seem to be a term that conveys a serious, mature, commited relationship (without the wedding) to the person thats using it be they straight/gay etc.

    Only self important young professionals, oldies and gay people seem to use the term anyway :rolleyes:.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,605 ✭✭✭OakeyDokey


    I've used that term before, sometimes there just isn't a technical reason behind it, sometimes you just say it. I don't see anything wrong with the term at all to be honest and have never thought a person to be gay when I've heard them use it.

    I guess I see my boyfriend as more than "just a boyfriend" saying the term partner feels more serious but still not quite engaged etc.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 24,626 ✭✭✭✭Cookie_Monster


    I use it all the time, girlfriend seems a bit to casual at this point, not quite made it too wife yet and finance just sounds weird to me. It'll be partner for the next 10 months or so then can just use wife :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,184 ✭✭✭3ndahalfof6


    its what all Texans say


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,919 ✭✭✭✭Gummy Panda


    They should just say this is "me burd" or "me fella"

    simples.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 170 ✭✭Caseywhale


    i used to say "my partner" when referring to my girlfriend.
    when my colleagues finally met her one of them said that since i called herbmy partner they thought she would turn out to be a man.

    i told her this and she said. "what did you expect, you idiot"
    lesson learned.


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