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At varying stages in my life, I have referred to my love interest as:
Teens-20's: girlfriend
30's-40's: my lady
50+: partner
To introduce my love interest as my girlfriend in my 40's felt weak and childish. To refer to her as my lady, which was okay but felt cheesy. So I settled on partner now and it seems to encapsulate who she is to me. Not married so wife is not accurate although, she gets a kick out of my sometimes referring her as such.
So how do you introduce or refer to your love interest to family, friends the public in general?
We generally introduced each other using our name as it was obvious we were a couple. If someone asked if we were
married at that time we would tell them no. Major thought was not put into this.
Guess I'm the odd one out, 'cause I think "my lady" sounds classy.
I haven't been in a "steady" relationship in a while, but I have introduced as "my lady" in the past. I think now I might just say: "This is (name of person).."
We just had a thread about this last week. The consensus is there is no good general grownup term for love interest that ticks ALL the boxes.
On the same note, "my girlfriend" sounds... how you say?... overachieving. Like you're demonstrating that you have a girlfriend. Which I can see as being totally normal in one's teens, and maybe until college graduation. But after that, it's more normal to have one than to not have one. So an introduction as "my girlfriend" isn't necessary. Unless you're being territorial against unscrupulous men. Which is fine.
So as an adult, a simple "X, this is Y. Y, this is X." is perfectly good. The rest is determined by context and body language. So if you and X are holding hands or have your arms around each other, you're probably together romantically. If you and X are simply standing, chances are you're just friends or even colleagues.
Certain situations can complicate things. Situations like social dancing, where it's normal to get relatively close with non-romantic partners or even strangers. But more often than not, the above paragraph applies.
I think I feel a disconnect here, but I'm not sure.
There are, ahem, a few threads on this forum along the lines of "What are we" and there are myriad terms to describe different types of relationships: wife/husband, fiancee/fiance, girl/boyfriend, casually dating, FWB, FB, etc...so these are obviously distinctions that are meaningful for people.
Yet, in this thread, so far most people have said it is not important to define the relationship to other people.
Of course, defining something for one's self in no way obligates one to define it to others.
So, I guess, after thinking through it a bit more, I agree with the majority. Introduce a person by their name and if anyone wants to know more specifics they can ask.
But, then what do you say?
ETA
After re-reading the OP it again comes down to specifics.
Introducing someone to acquaintances at a dinner party is different than introducing them to close friends and family.
I also don't think most of society is ready for "Hi, this is my friend, with benefits, Katerina". Which might be all the more reason to start introducing people that way.
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