[Ads-l] throuple

[James Eric Lawson]

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.

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