Last night I was playing blackjack and the guy to my left was asked if he was in a relationship. He said yes, he wasn't married but his "life partner" was in Nevada. He quickly looked around the table and added that he was not gay. Everyone said it's ok and we knew but clearly no one cared.

Is homoginizing the words we use for lovers a good or bad thing? Will we always have to add we are not gay if we use the words "life partner" instead of "girl friend" and "boy friend"?
If you are not married, would you rather be called a "life partner" or does it matter to you?

(I didn't put this in the relationship forum as this is more about perceptions of others in society.)

"the entity i am currently mating with"

"but I'm not gay"

I prefer the term significant other if I get to the point I am a life partner I will be a Mrs.

I would rather be a g/f but life partner works too. I dont instantly assume life partner means gay.

In my area, straight people don't say life partner. They use the term, significant other.

I think many people try not to offend others and tend to use PC words/phrases.

I think life partner shouldn't automatically imply homosexual relationships but thus far it seems to.

It wouldn't really matter what my other half called me as long as what they called me meant we were together.

i just use "the one i give all my money to aka My Banker"

I refer to my girlfriend as my "female reciprocal unit."

No I don't, not really. I refer to her as "my girlfriend." It's not really ambiguous or anything.

Although "female reciprocal unit" would make a helluva name for a robot. FRU, yeah, that's an idea....

Both of my long term relationships referred to me as "better half". They thought it was funny, and their friends thought it was true.

cool, I wanna be ur g/f, lol

I would prefer significant other, (or 'better half')

well there's a spot open....you just gotta fill out this application first

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Seinfeld.(sp?)

Ummm...it's the woman that's called the better half.

spousal unit
spousal equivalent

my life partner??

what u mean my ball and chain??

he lost too much money at blackjack...
i had to cut him off

Yes Seinfeld.(spell check version)

Minx