CONSTANT COMPANION

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 4/9/05 8:26:27 AM, wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM writes:

>>I remember "constant companion" from the early '60s
>>or possibly before. But I didn't figure out what it
>>meant till I was a lot older.

In response to someone else's:

>
> Does anyone remember when "constant companion" was the polite locution
> for the man or the woman with whom a person of note enjoyed a close
> personal, i.e. sexual, relationship?
>

Are you confusing CONSTANT COMPANION with LONG-TERM COMPANION or SPECIAL
FRIEND? I have no clear-cut memory of CONSTANT COMPANION ever being a euphemism
for 'domestic partner' or 'lover'. As I recall, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis
Junior were the "constant companions" of Frank Sinatra, but I seriously doubt that
there was a sexual relation between/among them. Nor were Little Lulu and
Tubby lovers (unless there was an underground version that I don't know about).

Judging from the first 10 of the 184,000 Google hits for CONSTANT COMPANION,
the phrase today does not signify 'lover', but I don't have time to look into
this further right now; it would be especially illuminating to do a
NewspaperArchive.com search. I certainly do not doubt that my memory may be faulty
here--I'd just like to see some hard data.

But who knows? I'd