Do Americans not use 'partner' very widely (for straight relationships), then?
Hmmm. When a straight person says "partner," I'm never sure if they're talking about a romantic partner or a business partner.
Wash: Well, I wash my hands of it. It's a hopeless case. I'll read a nice poem at the funeral. Something with imagery. Zoe: You could lock the door and keep the power-hungry maniac at bay. Wash: Oh, no, I'm starting to like this poetry idea now. Here lies my beloved Zoe, my autumn flower, somewhat less attractive now she's all corpsified and gross...
'Shindig'
Spike's Bitches 44: It's about the rules having changed.
[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.
tommyrot - Oct 07, 2009 11:52:30 am PDT #25607 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
P.M. Marc - Oct 07, 2009 11:52:59 am PDT #25608 of 30000
So come, my friends, be not afraid/We are so lightly here/It is in love that we are made; In love we disappear
In British Columbia a person who has lived and cohabited with another person, for a period of at least 2 years is considered a common law spouse acording to the "Estate Administration Act"
This is surprisingly common amongst my relatives.
amych - Oct 07, 2009 11:53:47 am PDT #25609 of 30000
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?
I remember POSSLQ in the sense of "I heard it mocked", but not in the sense of "I actually heard anyone anywhere ever use it with a straight face". (The straightness of it being part of the problem, of course).
tommyrot - Oct 07, 2009 11:53:55 am PDT #25610 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Anybody remember the brief life of POSSLQ - "Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quaters"? It might have caught on if it had been pronounceable. And not stupid.
I remember reading a poem (or song lyrics) about a POSSLQ in Time or Newsweek back in the late '70s. Only time I've heard that term.
And even that term sucks, as I've have lots of female housemates who I was not dating.
Zenkitty - Oct 07, 2009 11:57:40 am PDT #25611 of 30000
Every now and then, I think I might actually be a little odd.
I believe the term was from a time when persons of opposite sex probably wouldn't have been living together if they weren't *living together*. Unless they were hippies or something. Late 70's, I think.
I moved into a co-ed dorm my sophomore year and my mom nearly had a coronary.
billytea - Oct 07, 2009 11:58:04 am PDT #25612 of 30000
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
Were I to have found myself in such circumstances, I wouldve suggested "Godless Tramp I Shack Up With" as the official title. Alas, the only person who fit that description was my brother.
erikaj - Oct 07, 2009 11:58:47 am PDT #25613 of 30000
Always Anti-fascist!
Frasier and Lillith said it on Cheers, so I assume nobody really used it. I could be wrong; I was twelve then.
Zenkitty - Oct 07, 2009 12:00:46 pm PDT #25614 of 30000
Every now and then, I think I might actually be a little odd.
"Godless Tramp I Shack Up With"
That's too long. How about GTISUW?
Pronounced Git It Sue, of course.
Shir - Oct 07, 2009 12:02:31 pm PDT #25615 of 30000
"And that's why God Almighty gave us fire insurance and the public defender".
If you think using girlfriend in English is confusing, in Hebrew is so much worse.
It's THE SAME FREAKING WORD for a female friend/girlfriend, and a male friend/boyfriend.
So there's a word that's almost halfway between friend and an acquaintance, but I don't like using it much. Some people aren't my acquaintances, dammit, they're my friends and it's not their fault they're males.
In such cases, to make clear we're no romantically involved yet they're very best friends of mine, I use the boyfriend/friend word without specify it as definite. There's no confusion if I say "a friend/boyfriend of mine".
At least, not yet.
Thank God I'm monogamic.
tommyrot - Oct 07, 2009 12:04:39 pm PDT #25616 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Now I feel bad for my parents. They would never ask me if I was dating anybody, and I never told them I was, because I never was. So it turns out they were often assuming my female flatmates were my girlfriends. Then when my best friend died of AIDS, they assumed we must have been lovers so they started to worry I might have AIDS too.