"business partner" as retronym?
Mark Mandel
Mark.A.Mandel at GMAIL.COM
Mon Nov 2 16:57:50 UTC 2009
I don't know if we've previously discussed the use of "business partner" to
distinguish from "sexual partner", where once "partner" alone would have
been used. I just found myself using it in a note to my family:
Jason ___ & his bus.partner Tommy are coming this eve. around 8 for another
look at the plumbing. They'll phone a couple hours ahead of time.
Of course "business partner" is much older than the widespread use of
"partner" for "sexual partner", but ISTM that its now should count as a
retronym in some way.
m a m
------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
More information about the Ads-l
mailing list