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Comment by tedunangst | Hacker News Reader

Does anyone know why Taren is consistently referred to as "partner"? I would have expected "girlfriend", which some sources do use, but I'm curious if there's some reasoning or decision behind the choice of term.

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I'm the same with my 'partner' (hetrosexual relationship). She finds the terms girlfriend / boyfriend a little uncomfortable for whatever reason.

I'm similar really. It's a holdover from my annoyance at people in school that used to say "me and my boyfriend blah blah blah", "my girlfriend told me blah blah blah", etc.

So now I use my partner's name whenever possible, otherwise introducing her as my partner in conversation. Not saying that's what the reason is here, but that's my personal reasoning.

Lots of people use "partner" for different reasons:

    * solidarity with homosexual couples
    * no plans for getting married, but plan to be together for years
    * not monogamous
    * 'girlfriend' sounds very high school

Of course, each couple will have a different reason, these are just the ones I've seen.

A friend of mine does that with her boyfriend as a sort of solidarity thing with same sex couples. Dunno if that's Aaron's reason, but that was what I thought of.

In some circles it's common to use the word in more formal or public settings when you are together for a long time (long enough that most couples would be married).

It seems to be what grown ups call their boy/girlfriends.

This, for me. Ironically, my "partner" regularly wonders why I don't call her my "girlfriend". Perhaps not coincidentally, she is quite a few years my junior.

At 40, I use girlfriend. Partner is a much more deliberately ambiguous word. Someone who I introduce as my partner might not even be romantically linked with me.

Commonly used for heterosexual couples in a long-term relationship that find the institution of marriage unnecessary/disagreeable, it is a shortening of "domestic partner".

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