“My Partner”

[FreeSocrates!]

There is this guy that I play on a sports team with, anyways I quite like him; I think he’s a pretty cool guy. And I find our sports team is a quite interesting mix of all sorts of Expats. Some of them even hardcore Christians, and if you asked me a fews years ago if I would have any Christian friends that I’d sit down and have a beer and chat with, I’d be like; WTF mate?

Anyways, this other guy (not the Christian) he’s uber-liberal politically correct guy and always refers to his wife as “my partner”.

When I asked him why he didn’t use the word “my wife”, he said that it was derogatory, which I don’t agree with at all, because she could just as easily say “my husband”, and isn’t the meaning in the feeling and not the word?

I also find his use of the word “partner” confusing as I always thought it was for gay people. And it could lead to some embarrassing social situations, let’s say if he was gay, and I had a gay friend and I wanted to send them out on a blind date together because maybe he mentioned it to me in passing “I just broke it off with my partner” and I interrupted that as meaning he was gay.

Do you refer to your wife/husband (gay or straight) as “wife”, “husband” or “partner”?

And does it really matter what “words” we use? (I for one think it does, only for the sole reason that it could lead to awkward social situations like my example above)

[PhnomRon]

Years ago, "may partner" was exclusively used by the gays. It has since been co-opted by hippie liberal types who want to create an air of mystery about whether they are gay, because gayness is all the rage these days,

[StroppyChops]

We're old school. I'm proud to call Mrs Stroppy my wife and to be her husband. We have a one-to-one relationship that is unique to us. I'd consider calling her my 'partner' to be devaluing what we have.

[StroppyChops]

Here's the thing: you can have several partners in life (business, sport, in crime) - are you putting your spouse on par with those other relationships?

[kiwiincambodia]

It used to be the wife now it's just the bitch.

[Username Taken]

I don't refer to the missus as a 'wife' or a 'partner'.

[StroppyChops]

It used to be the wife now it's just the bitch.

Tough times brother. It gets better.

[EdinWigan]

It is just a label in an ever evolving language. I do see that some find the evolution of language a difficult thing to adjust too but there you have it.

If you recall in the UK post war, everything was positively 'Gay', you could have a 'gay old time', as the lyric to a famous cartoon would brighten your day with. Then in the late 1960's it was borrowed and now sits firmly in the camp of the same sex couple. Of course the lesbians have formed a splinter group and moved away to be just 'Lesbians' and not as mainstream 'Gay' as the men.

Each to there own, if his partner is his 'Partner' and your wife is your 'Wife' so be it. Respect his choice and the world will keep turning. He might simply have a taste for sandles and lentils or his wife might just have a beard and be called 'Dorothy'

[ali baba]

I've heard people use the term partner when unsure if the woman I'm with is my girlfriend, fiancee, wife or mistress. It felt a bit stiff.

[LTO]

Partner doesn't mean wife. He's using the word wrong, like calling apples pears. His little attempt at engineering the language may catch on, but I doubt it. More likely people will just misunderstand.