Basically just something people say that indicates a position indirectly, like how seperatists from a given region might always say they’re from [region] and not [country] or how trump supporters call AI “SI” now.
Basically just something people say that indicates a position indirectly, like how seperatists from a given region might always say they’re from [region] and not [country] or how trump supporters call AI “SI” now.
The first time a friend referred to me wife as my “partner”, I questioned his choice of words because he was well aware that I’m not gay.
Like, I would still just carry on in convo, but if I hear “partner”, I make a mental note that they’re gay. The correlation has close to a 100% hit rate.
You know what’s funny about that? A lot of my hetero friends also say partner.
I started using it because it removes the baggage that gendered terms carry. My wife is my best friend. I like to do everything with her. We split chores pretty evenly.
…in my region of English speakers.
…in the USA. I have friends and family all over.
Online, at least, I’ve probably heard more hetero people than gay people use “partner.” In some cases they were in fact perfectly conventionally full-blown married, they just weren’t interested in sharing any more details than they had to to tell whatever story they were telling, because that detail wasn’t important for the story.
That checks out. You’d use the term to be deliberately vague. Online, you’d be giving away your gender and marital status to the scraperbots. In person, a vague response lands differently. Particularly when speaking one-on-one.
I know many (myself included) who are in heterosexual relationships and say partner due to not being married. It’s a pretty common thing…
…in my region of English speakers.
Same. You’re getting downvoted because lemmy cannot allow for regional language distinctions. Not even different countries, regions. It’s a big world.
No one where I’m at would refer to a married couple as partners. Nothing wrong with that, but it usually connotes a gay relationship.
I promise you it’s not that. It’s the way that individual wrote their comment. Like it was offensive to be considered gay. Why does it matter?
And you keep trying to tie it to a region. I think the only “regional” distinction you can make is rural vs anywhere else. But that’s more population density related not regional. It’s not really a pop vs soda situation.
Maybe you and this other person should reconsider your assumptions about the usage of the word “partner” hahahaha.