why does everyone now say "partner" ???

[dellzeqq]

Oh yes you can. Kathryn Hunter has played Lear (and the Fool). No one bats an eyelid at this stuff- it doesnt even indicate a particularly radical approach. People who do the same job should have the same job title - simples.

one of my daughters just played Hamlet at the Globe. Mind you, she was one of six Hamlets, who appeared on stage two or three at a time. Very modern.

 

[darth vadar]

[QUOTE 1341845"]
I nearly trained to be a midwife.
[/quote]

I knew a gynaecologist once who used to paint his hall, stairs and landing through the letter box !!

 

[Soltydog]

I dont think i've ever used 'partner' normally called wife, or by her name depending on who I'm talking to, or sometimes even refered to as 'The Boss'

its almost as bad as " person with parental responsibility " next to mother on the forms we get from eldests school.

why not put Mother/Father /Legal Guardian .

As a foster carers we dont have parental responsibility for the child in our care, so technically wouldn't be able to sign

 

[Stephenite]

Which in many cases may be an excellent reason for using it. Romance isn't necessarily what keeps relationships together!

No, but it is definitely a large part, at least for me.

Ok, then. Call me an old romantic, and i'll call you a new-romantic.

 

[Adasta]

Call me an old romantic, and i'll call you a new-romantic.

Don't - Don't you want me?

 

[661-Pete]

Oh yes you can. Kathryn Hunter has played Lear (and the Fool). No one bats an eyelid at this stuff- it doesnt even indicate a particularly radical approach. People who do the same job should have the same job title - simples.

I should have known I'd walk into that one! After all, back at my all-boys school, we used to regularly have stage productions in which junior boys - the ones with un-broken voices - took the lady parts. Just as in Shakes's time. I recall one year when they were putting on Much Ado About Nothing, and a classmate of mine, playing Beatrice I think, somewhat precociously, uttered the words "Oh that I were a man!" - and the audience burst into peals of laughter.....

Lucky for me, I was a cr@p actor so I never got offered any parts. The thought of going onstage in drag gave me the creeps.

What I was thinking of, was more run-of-the-mill stuff like the TV soaps. You can't really have cross-dressing parts in Eastenders say (or can you? Someone will no doubt surprise me...)

 

[Silver Fox]

I find that " me current squeeze" or " the long haired one" is sufficient.

Unless of course I'm in her company then its " my darling, love of my life"

 

[Toshiba Boy]

What a load of fuss!

Partner is consise, accurate, and much more linguistically elegant than many of the alternatives, and the meaning of the term, in context, is perfectly clear. I don't follow why it is any more bland than the alternatives.

I don't care where it originated, although I'm sure I first heard it used in a heterosexual context I'm prepared to accept that it may have started in a homosexual one. So what?

I'll go on referring to my spouse as my wife, and go on being quite happy for other people to refer to their partners if they wish.

Spot on David. Each to their own.

 

[srw]

Regarding the word 'actress', well I think it used to be 'actress' for a good reason. Acting is very gender-specific - after all in the post-Shakespeare era you can't have an actress playing Hamlet any more than you can have an actor playing Ophelia (though no doubt it's been tried). So 'actress' helps to qualify the occupation, in a way that 'doctoress' or 'accountantess' wouldn't. But the good old Grauniad, discovering that usage of the word 'actress' had been debased by association with the string of 'as the actress said to the bishop' jokes, decided to go all PC-ey and use the word 'actor' across the board. Other PC-adherents swiftly followed. Ah well...

Not according to the OED:

Women did not appear on stage in public in England until after the Restoration of 1660, following which the terms actor and actress were both used to describe female performers. Later, actor was often restricted to men, with actress as the usual term for women. Although actress remains in general use, actor is increasingly preferred for performers of both sexes as a gender-neutral term.

...with none other Samuel Pepys (1666) as a source:

1666 S. Pepys Diary 27 Dec. (1972) VII. 422 Doll Common doing Abigail most excellently, and Knipp the Widow very well (and will be an excellent actor I think).

"Doll" is usually a woman's name...

 

[Fnaar]

"Doll" is usually a woman's name...

There we go... I'm going to start calling my "wife" "doll" :-)

 

[fimm]

I can always tell if my Dad has irritated my Mum, as she will then refer to him as "Your Father"...