[Ads-l] throuple

Sat Mar 20 23:46:13 UTC 2021

> On Mar 20, 2021, at 6:50 PM, James Eric Lawson <jel at NVENTURE.COM> wrote:
> 
> Not a quaple or a quiple (much less a BLT) but the 'throuple' synonym
> 'threeple' joins the crowd in print soon after the 2004 example of
> 'throuple' noted by Wordspy:
> 
> 28 Oct 2005, Knight-Ridder News Service syndicated movie review by Chris
> Hewitt (in The Miami Herald): "They form a Jules and Jim-like threeple."
> 
> That use might be nonce, were 'threeple' not also found in a 22 Nov 2011
> entry in Urban Dictionary and a 2019 new word suggestion at Collins
> Dictionary.
> 
> Historically, with a more general definition ("three times as many"),
> the noun is attested in the Scottish National Dictionary from 1827.
> Depending on how you roll, that might be considered a non-English
> language use.

Here is the church, here is the steeple,
Open the door, and now see the threeple—oops, quick, close the door. 

> 
> On 3/20/21 1:05 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>> On Mar 20, 2021, at 4:03 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>> 
>>> The French Wikipedia has more on “compersion” than the English: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compersion <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compersion>
>>> 
>>> I take it that “ménage à trois” tends to have a dated and fairly sexually oriented connotation, something I confirmed a year or two with someone in a throuple. 
>>> 
>>> Benjamin Barrett (he/him/his)
>>> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>> 
>> So maybe “ménage à trois” is sandwiched cozily between “threesome” and “throuple”.  It’s getting semantically crowded in there!
>> 
>> 
>>> 
>>>> On 20 Mar 2021, at 12:26, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> The Rachel Moss piece also touches on “compersion”.  Wiktionary has
>>>> ===================
>>>> 
>>>> 'Vicarious joy associated with seeing one's partner have a joyful romantic or sexual relation with another'
>>>> 
>>>> Coined by the Kerista Community in the 1970s. Possibly derived from French compère (“partner”), plus -sion, based on an earlier use of the French compérage to denote the practice of brothers-in-law sharing wives observed among Tupi people of the Brazilian Amazon.
>>>> 
>>>> ==================
>>>> “Possibly” indeed.  Does anyone have more on this intermittently useful term?  Wikipedia has a brief description of compersion in its polyamory entry, while OED goes in for neither compersion nor the throuple (although it does have thripple and thrapple, neither of them a variant on the arrangement).  I don’t see much difference between “throuple” and “ménage à trois” (no, mailer, I didn’t mean “ménage à trots", but thanks anyway) beyond the language of origin.
>>>> 
>>>> LH
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> On Mar 20, 2021, at 2:38 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> The WordSpy entry has examples back to 2004.
>>>>> 
>>>>> https://wordspy.com/index.php?word=throuple
>>>>> "It’s the hottest thing in romantic commitment since monogrammed towels.
>>>>> It’s set Provincetown abuzz. And now it’s got a catchy name: 'throuple,' as
>>>>> in couple, only consisting of three (usually same-sex) members instead of
>>>>> two."
>>>>> --Edith Zimmerman, “City Journal,” Boston Magazine, October 1, 2004
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 2:17 PM Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Interesting find!
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> This redirects to ménage à trois on Wikipedia (
>>>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9nage_%C3%A0_trois <
>>>>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9nage_%C3%A0_trois>) where it is
>>>>>> noted as being a contemporary version of the arrangement.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Wikipedia cites the 2016 “Throuple Relationships Vs Threesomes Explained…”
>>>>>> by Rachel Moss (https://tinyurl.com/zxuu7d8 <https://tinyurl.com/zxuu7d8
>>>>>>> ).
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/throuple <
>>>>>> https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/throuple>) has this and “throupling”, but
>>>>>> Webster-Merriam and the OED do not have either.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> The earliest cites I found on Google are from 2009:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> https://tinyurl.com/2v4n9kss <https://tinyurl.com/2v4n9kss>
>>>>>> Charlotte ‘throuple’ on MTV doc
>>>>>> 15 Sept 2009
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> https://tinyurl.com/atsms5sk <https://tinyurl.com/atsms5sk>
>>>>>> Is This Throuple Destined For Happiness? Or Is a 3-Way Relationship Doomed?
>>>>>> 16 Sept 2009
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
>>>>>> Formerly of Seattle, WA
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On 20 Mar 2021, at 10:56, Mark Mandel <markamandel at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Gay Throuple Who Made History Say Being A Three-Person Unit Makes
>>>>>> Parenting
>>>>>>> Easier
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>> https://www.ladbible.com/community/interesting-gay-throuple-who-made-history-say-being-a-three-makes-things-easier-20210319
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> A gay 'throuple' who made history after putting all three of their names
>>>>>> on
>>>>>>> their child's birth certificate
>>>>>>> <
>>>>>> https://www.ladbible.com/community/interesting-men-become-first-throuple-with-three-dads-put-on-birth-certificate-20210217
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> have
>>>>>>> said being a three-parent unit makes things easier.
>>>>>>> Ian Jenkins, Alan Mayfield, and Jeremy Allen Hodges, from San Diego in
>>>>>> the
>>>>>>> US, launched and won a legal bid to get all of their name's put on their
>>>>>>> daughter Pippa's birth certificate back in 2017.
>>>>>>> The throuple are now proud parents to Pippa, three, and Parker who is
>>>>>>> almost one.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> -- 
> James Eric Lawson
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org