comment by ArtemusBlank

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ArtemusBlank · 3487 days ago · link · · parent · post: Do some words bother you?

Is anyone here bothered when someone over the age of twenty-five or so uses the word "girlfriend" or "boyfriend" when referring to their significant other in a sentence? One guy from another forum I am on was bothered when a guy referred to his partner as his "girlfriend." He was around thirty five.

I personally have no problem with using girlfriend or boyfriend when I'm older.

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user-inactivated · 3486 days ago · link ·

What more bothers me is when heterosexual women refer to their female friends as "girlfriends." As if the word couldn't possibly mean anything else.

+discuss+discuss

TheVenerableCain · 3487 days ago · link ·

Nope. Don't know what else you'd call the other person. Partner? Not-wife/not-husband?

+discuss+discuss

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ArtemusBlank · 3487 days ago · link ·

Significant Other is becoming a popular phrase as I have gotten older.

+discuss+discuss

briandmyers · 3487 days ago · link ·

I live in NZ, and we usually say "partner". If you mean "business partner", you say "business partner"; otherwise it's assumed to mean "romantic partner", which I think is kinda opposite of the American usage.

+discuss+discuss

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psudo · 3487 days ago · link ·

No, you'll pretty much never say "romantic partner." In fact I'd say it's most commonly used to denote people in a gay relationship.