Partner?

[Cherylicious]

Do you refer to your boyfriend/spouse as boyfriend and husband or partner? I don't know why, but the word "partner" seems so robotic and unemotional. I personally wouldn't refer to my boyfriend as partner. :?

 

[Fredric13]

Light of my life, without which I would cease to exist.

 

[c750dt]

I just say I have someone very special to me. It's very accurate and anything else would either be jumping the gun or not do justice.

To OP, I agree. Partner is a more appropriate name for a coworker I think. Though I suppose some word is needed; husband and wife are both terms that don't seem appropriate.

 

[gb2000ie]

I hate the word "partner" because it sounds like we're running a business, and "Boyfriend" is not much better because it sounds like we've just started dating, and "husband" is just not technically correct, at least not yet.

So, I tend to go with the informal and playful "Better half", a play on the less flattering but very common "other half" used by Irish men to describe their wives. It also has the advantage of being gender neutral, so you can use it in regular conversation without jerking the conversation away from what you were actually talking about to "oh, you're gay". It's not that I'm not out, but more that I don't want my gayness to be any more of a focus than anyone else's straightness.

B.

 

[Urban]

All of the above, but usually "partner". I don't like any of them for various reasons, but "partner" seems the most commonly used today & also (to me) has the fewest negative connotations.

 

[drn2001]

partner. it' the easiest and most neutral of all of the terms.

 

[logan222]

I haven't had a "partner" yet, but I'm not content with such a term. Like someone already mentioned, we are not going to be starting a business or be cop partners. I don't think kids grow up, anticipating to have a "partner" or be in a "domestic union." The terms are so generic that it feels like I'm just entering some sort of legal contract, and that belittles the fact that I am in LOVE with this so-called other person.

If ever I get married, I would love to have someone I can call husband.

 

[bernardo]

Boyfriend just avoids confusion, i think

 

[wowfish]

The "word" it is not important , The important thing is "how" do you feel for your boyfriend . Anyway , I am happy for you that you can have a boyfriend .

 

[SimplyJakeAndAlex]

My dude (and I prefer that to partner), is a boy and is my friend, which makes him my boyfriend. My dude is the one I love and I love him like a husband like his wife and I will perhaps hate him as a wife hates her husband. Alex isn't my second half, and I'm not either his second half as we are two different entities, he's not my possession and I'm not his, I won't say that I wouldn't care that he had sex with other people than myself (because he did and so did I) but as long as the love and respect we have toward one another bring us back to one another diseases free I'm his lover and he is mine.

He's my partner in business, alongside with other, but he's not my partner in life as we share more than a single bank account together. He's not my husband and even if we were married it wouldn't changed anything in my definition, as to me marriage means NOTHING at all, I would marry him for the sake of governmental perks, but I don't see marriage as the ultimate seal of our affection to one another (being with him everyday and knowing that we love each other almost equally is our seal). He already has a very expensive ring to its finger and I gave it to him for his 23rd bday to mark our 3 years together. It wasn't a sign of possession because when he decide to go fuck with somebody else (which rarely happens without me being present) he can definitely remove it as I would remove mine too.

Alex is my dude, and when I refer to him as my dude, I really don't care what other think, but if they want details, they just can ask and if I feel replying I would, but most of the time (although I'm very open in this board) I do not give much details about us in real life... I let people speculate since that's what they love to do and it entertains them. In real life, you wouldn't know that we are a couple, good and very closed friend YES, but nobody would ever know that my dick has so many time visited his holes

 

[Sinnerr]

I was in serious relationship once and quite short time (about 6 weeks) only. I was saying "my boy" or just his name.

 

[logan222]

The "word" it is not important , The important thing is "how" do you feel for your boyfriend . Anyway , I am happy for you that you can have a boyfriend .

I would have to respectfully disagree with you on this. How you feel for your boyfriend is important, of course, but there's something meaningful in what you can call him in a social setting. "Out" homosexual couples are basically nonexistent in my hometown. My 5th grade teacher had a beautiful doctor girlfriend that she brought over to teach us some cool games that promoted health and well-being...but the teacher only called her "friend" - because God forbid that the kids of the conservative parents hear that their children have a lesbian teacher in a committed relationship with a woman. But when I went to college, I met a lot of fascinating lesbian/bisexual women that were in committed relationships with other women. I respected them very much, but I did not like how they called their girlfriends, "parters." It always felt like an empty word for me.

As a gay man, I don't think my sexual orientation should make me different from others in terms of what I call my loved one. If straight people in straight relationships can call their mates "boyfriend" and "girlfriend," then in my opinion, there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to. They transition from "boyfriend" to "husband" OR "girlfriend" to "wife." I know that not everyone here believes in marriage or committed relationships, but I do and I don't see why I can't use the exact same words as straight people.

 

[Sinnerr]

logan222: You got it much easier than me because in English language is word "boyfriend" which is by my wiew concise enought. In Czech language is not exact equivalent of this word. So I can say "Můj kluk" - My boy or "Můj přítel" - literally my friend (fact is that this word in singullar is nowdays using almost only in meaning "boyfriend") or "miláček" - honey (obviously imposible to say sometimes) or "nabíječ" - fucker or also sweet butt (obviosuly possible to say to good friends only).

 

[SimplyJakeAndAlex]

logan222: You got it much easier than me because in English language is word "boyfriend" which is by my wiew concise enought. In Czech language is not exact equivalent of this word. So I can say "Můj kluk" - My boy or "Můj přítel" - literally my friend (fact is that this word in singullar is nowdays using almost only in meaning "boyfriend") or "miláček" - honey (obviously imposible to say sometimes) or "nabíječ" - fucker or also sweet butt (obviosuly possible to say to good friends only).

In French we fixed that issue with "Copain/Copine" which SenorZeus can vouch for, if I talk about a bunch of friends that I hang out with I'd say "mes copains" if I want to talk about my lover I also can use "mon copain" which has no sexual connotation or suggestion that we are a couple unless we specify it. So in French I'd often refer to my dude Alex as "mon copain Alexandre" and no one would ever know that we are way over the hand into hand phase :cheers:

 

[SimplyJakeAndAlex]

They transition from "boyfriend" to "husband" OR "girlfriend" to "wife." I know that not everyone here believes in marriage or committed relationships, but I do and I don't see why I can't use the exact same words as straight people.

And why wouldn't you call a man you married husband, because as much as I don't care much about marriage, the institution of marriage still suggest that if you are married, that "boyfriend" is no longer a "boyfriend" but a husband in the sense of the word and in the very meaning of what marriage is all about. My dude is my husband, although we're not married... in official paper we have way pass over the 1 year common law, we've been 6 years together, living in the same house, sleeping in the same bed and lastly we registered our last baby and I'm considered Daddy/Uncle #2 we are bond by the laws and he can skin me alive just like a real woman would do if we were to separate... so I believe that marriage or not our relation deserve the term husband/husband and surely not that "partner" bullshit. So yes! Once you'll be with the dude of your life and you've been over 1 year or even 6 months, if in your head he's your husband, so be it and call him that way. There's no copyright on that terms... the church or any religions doesn't own it Use it and use it a lot

 

[Rebel7]

In French we fixed that issue with "Copain/Copine" which SenorZeus can vouch for, if I talk about a bunch of friends that I hang out with I'd say "mes copains" if I want to talk about my lover I also can use "mon copain" which has no sexual connotation or suggestion that we are a couple unless we specify it. So in French I'd often refer to my dude Alex as "mon copain Alexandre" and no one would ever know that we are way over the hand into hand phase :cheers:

Yes, the term 'Copain/Copine' is widely used. A friend while introducing her boyfriend to me, "lui c'est mon copain..." but i knew she meant boyfriend the way she affectionately says it, although 'copain' is quite a broad term which mean friend and as you say no one would suspect that you're in a more intimate relationship. A more specific term would be 'petit ami/petite amie' (boyfriend/girlfriend)..but if you get into self-fabricated 'pet-names" to address your lover intimately you might never come up with a translation lol

 

[Jawja]

I say he's my partner. After 28 years of ups and downs, poverty and wealth, sickness and health, he truly is my partner in this life. I would be utterly lost without him.