Unmarried couples living together (1 Viewer)

[Optimus Prime]

Interesting article
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What do you call an unmarried partner when girlfriend/boyfriend doesn’t sound right?

Now that we’ve come to some consensus on same-sex marriage, let’s move on to the next puzzle: what to call two people who act as if they are married but are not.

For the faux spouse, none of the word choices are good. Everyone agrees that partner sounds awful — too anodyne, empty, cold. Lover may be worse — too sexualized, graphic, one-dimensional. Boyfriend sounds too young. Significant other sounds too ’80s. Special friend or just friend (both favored by the 65-and-older crowd) are just too ridiculous.

Faced with such weak English-language options, Janna Cordeiro, 43, a nonprofit and public health consultant in San Francisco, settled on calling Sebastian Toomey, her mate of 23 years, “mi hombre” — my man. (Pronunciation: deep and forceful, with rolled r, as in a Western.)..........................

West Palm woman calls faux spouse her

 

[Swampy Saint]

Interesting article
===========================================================

What do you call an unmarried partner when girlfriend/boyfriend doesn’t sound right?

Now that we’ve come to some consensus on same-sex marriage, let’s move on to the next puzzle: what to call two people who act as if they are married but are not.

For the faux spouse, none of the word choices are good. Everyone agrees that partner sounds awful — too anodyne, empty, cold. Lover may be worse — too sexualized, graphic, one-dimensional. Boyfriend sounds too young. Significant other sounds too ’80s. Special friend or just friend (both favored by the 65-and-older crowd) are just too ridiculous.

Faced with such weak English-language options, Janna Cordeiro, 43, a nonprofit and public health consultant in San Francisco, settled on calling Sebastian Toomey, her mate of 23 years, “mi hombre” — my man. (Pronunciation: deep and forceful, with rolled r, as in a Western.)..........................

West Palm woman calls faux spouse her

My woman or my man seems appropriate and to the point.

 

[CHI-TOWNSAINT]

future-divorcee's

 

[CajunSaint]

future-divorcee's

You know, i asked my wife if it was ok that I introduced her to people as the future Mrs. Ex....didnt go over to well.

 

[ULL_Scott]

Does significant other strongly apply being married? It's what I used when in this situation.

 

[BIG E]

I think the term my biatch sounds about right.

 

[jasonj]

Ye Olde Lady

 

[saintingeorgia]

He calls me "the love of his life" most of the time. Other times its "the ole lady". I just say my husband. Who cares, we have a commitment, just not a piece of paper. Ten years in March......

 

[SaintRob39]

I just say wife.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I think the term my biatch sounds about right.

what do you call her?

 

[Sun Wukong]

In its early incarnation in post-Rome Europe, marriage among serfs and non-nobles basically consisted of two people moving in together and saying "He's my husband/she's my wife." No ceremony, no legalities, no witnesses. At that time they had no money or land so there was no reason to treat it as a business transaction (which is what marriage was really all about) and the Church wouldn't get involved in matters until a while after that, so they had little say in things*.

So if you want to use the terms husband and wife despite not legally being married, I say go ahead. "Traditional marriage" is a relatively recent invention, all things considered.

*There's probably some interesting observations to be made about wealth disparity and the marriage gap in modern society and the parallels of co-habitation with early non-noble marriage (or lack thereof) practices in Europe, but I'll leave that for someone else to develop.

 

[St. Widge]

I suggest following the Louisiana Civil Code and calling the woman the Concubine and the man the Paramour. They should refer to their relationship as a contract of Open Concubinage.

 

[CHI-TOWNSAINT]

I just say wife.

If I had a friend who was living with a woman he wasn't married to and he introduced her to someone as "my wife", I'd think that was very strange....a little creepy to me. Not sure why.

 

[superchuck500]

I just say wife.

Some people say "common law wife".

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

domestic partner