[Ads-l] throuple

[Laurence Horn]

> 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.
> 
> 
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