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

* Jan van Steenbergen said on 2003-05-19 13:39:08 +0200
>  --- 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 [..] 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?
In Norwegian, the standard term is gender-neutral:
    |kjæreste| "most beloved"

In the olden days, one stopped using this once one was married but now,
at least in my peer group, it is also used for ones husband/wife.

I started writing about what the words |venn|, |venninne| means and
realized I needed a diagram...

Speaker: S
Speaker's 'friend' friend: SF
Speaker's 'love' friend: SL
Other person: O
Other person's 'friend' friend: OF
Other person's 'love' friend: OL
Any person: A

S to O about SF: min venn "my friend", venninne, kompis (from swedish),
    kamerat (AM buddy, AU mate, RU tovarisch)
S to O about SL: kjæreste, sambo "co-habitant", <synonyms for wife, husband>
S to SL: vennen min "my friend" (only used between lovers or between
    parent/child... Imagine having to translate "my friend" from English
    to Norwegian! ;) ), kjæreste, kjæresten min, <various pet-names>
S to SF: kompis, kamerat, venn (but without articles, pronouns)
S to A about OF: same as S to O about SF
S, being timid, overpolite and/or unsure, to A about OL:
    'vennen' til "the 'friend' of" (with audible quotes or flying
    fingers)

Not exhaustive of course... pragmatics is hard :)

AFMCL.... "friend" is |tci| but as for lovers etc. I haven't even thought
that far yet...


t.