Goodbye to Wife, Husband, and Spouse? (1 Viewer)

[Galbreath34]

A must watch.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ckGaShCWbcE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Not quite as good, but educational.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KTDdHNhZXUo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Galbreath34]

:straightmad:

 

[FWtex]

And in regard to the OP, I think you are mistaken about the legal statuses of the people you hear use the term partner. I have ever only heard gay couples who cannot get married and feminist women who have a longterm male companion but refuse to get married use that term. If someone who is legitimately married is using it, then that's just rather ridiculous, as the term is a poor compromise at best.

This response is basically what I was getting at. I understand the reasoning for gay couples using the term and have no problem with it. However, when it is used by the media for hetero couples it is ridiculous attempt to marginalize hetero relationships.

 

[nolaspe]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6jrngYNGNeE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[superchuck500]

This response is basically what I was getting at. I understand the reasoning for gay couples using the term and have no problem with it. However, when it is used by the media for hetero couples it is ridiculous attempt to marginalize hetero relationships.

We still haven't seen an example. This discussion is presuming it to be happening - but I would like to see it.

 

[Charlie Brizzown]

I sometimes refer to my wife as my "ol' lady". I'm a red neck agenda pundit.

 

[TheDeparted]

 

[SuePrudhomme]

You're forgetting that a lot of hetero relationships aren't exactly traditional these days. "Partner" isn't an insidious attempt by people with an agenda to attack marriage; it's a common-sense descriptive term that covers "common-law wife," "live-in boyfriend," "baby daddy," "FWB," "mistress," "sugar daddy/momma" and all the other relationships that don't fall into the usual progression of "boyfriend/fiance/husband" and "girlfriend/fiancee/wife."

I called my husband my husband before we were officially married because we lived together for ages. It's what people used to do in the long-ago and far-away when marriage was as simple as moving in together and declaring yourselves husband and wife -- which wasn't really all that long ago and far away, I should point out. Official church marriage was only for the rich whose bloodlines and inheritances mattered; for most people, setting up housekeeping was enough. It kind of puts a different spin on the concept of holy matrimony as a sacred institution.

If the word "partner" bothers you so much, you're free not to use it. You can even harrumph and complain when a news anchor uses it, if it makes you feel better. However, it isn't gay propaganda; if anything, it's an illustration of how hetero relationships have changed in just a few short decades.

Saying "partner" is just safer than assuming the couple down the street with two kids and a white picket fence is actually married. These days, they often aren't.

 

[E Pluribus Unum]

 

[Devildog]

 

[SaintJ]

I hate the term 'partner'. Sounds too, I dunno, businesslike.

I prefer "fellow stockholder".