SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Increasingly Significant Issue

[Lynne Murphy]

--On Wednesday, April 10, 2002 7:27 pm -0400 "Joanne M. Despres"
<jdespres at MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM> wrote:

> It seems to me that "partner" (less formal) and "domestic partner"
> (more formal) are the terms of choice for gays, lesbians, and
> bisexuals.  I'm not usually the first to catch on to newer trends,
> though -- maybe others have a different impression.  To my ears,
> those terms sound more to the point and less euphemistically
> vague than "companion" and less klutzily p.c. than "significant
> other."

In the UK, 'partner' is the term of choice regardless of sexual
orientation.  It's used without blinking all the time.

Lynne


Dr M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
Acting Director, MA in Applied Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

phone +44-(0)1273-678844
fax   +44-(0)1273-671320