Re: OT: What? the clean-shaven outnumber the bearded? "Yer Ugly Mug," etc.

Quoting Jan van Steenbergen <ijzeren_jan@...>:

>  --- John Cowan skrzypszy:
>
> > For the five years before Gale and I were married, I called her my
> partner.
>
> I've never really known what to call Marina. "Mijn vriendin" (the
> Dutch
> equivalent of "my girl-friend") is a term I thoroughly dislike, because
> to my
> ears it implies a claim - do not come close to this lady, because she is
> mine
> mine mine! But what is the alternative? "Partner" sounds sterile,
> indeed. "Mijn
> geliefde" (my beloved one) sounds a bit too pathetic. So usually I
> avoid
> classifications of that kind at all.
>
> Sometimes, depending on the situation, I call here "wife". Not that we
> are
> married yet - we know each other more than nine years now, but only now
> we have
> to possibility to get married - but sometimes it is just easier to
> avoid
> trouble.
> On the other hand, a friend of mine, who has been married for many
> years, still
> calls her husband "my boy-friend".
>
> BTW Are boy-friend and girl-friend terms that you can use for every age,
> or are
> they supposed to be applied to younger people only - like boy and
> girl?
The corresponding Swedish terms (_pojkvän_ och _flikvän_, respectively) I quite
commonly hear being used of people way older than a _pojke_ "boy" or _flicka_
"girl", and it makes my ears cringe every time!

                                           Andreas

Reply