On referencing each other

[efish1042]

Hey guys! Long time, no see - as it were. I've just been lurking mostly since I closed the distance about a year ago, but I haven't been gone, I promise!
Anyway, I just had a thought while looking through the "proposals, engagements, and weddings... oh my!"
For those of you that don't plan on getting married, how would you refer to each other? At least where I am, being a boyfriend or girlfriend tends to imply a temporary commitment at most. Significant other is a bit of a mouthful and down here we tend to reserve it for the LGBT community - but maybe that's just here. Spouse or husband/wife tends to imply the most commitment and sincerity, but i know a lot of people don't believe in marriage as it stands now.
So I was wondering how you choose to refer or will choose to refer to your SO's in a public sense, like introductions as such?
I have a boyfriend, but personally I eventually want a husband. I'm not sure what I would say if we choose to cohabit instead.

[Bluejay Belle]

I think I would use "partner."

Like you, however, at the moment I have a boyfriend, and eventually I'd like to have a husband.

[kattermole]

Partner makes me feel a bit old (my dad uses that for his girlfriend!) so I tend just to use boyfriend, although when my mum is introducing us to people she'll always call B my partner. It doesn't really matter to me what others think of our relationship based on a word, I know how serious it is no matter what I call him!

[maja]

Had this discussion with my SO, he says I should call him my "manfriend" and he will call me his "ladyfriend"...does "partner" still sound that bad now?

In any case, I think partner also has a very professional ring to it...honestly I would stick to boyfriend because that is after all the term even though it sounds weird.
In German we have a very neat, more adult word for "partner" it's called "Lebensgefährte" which loosely translates to "life companion"...so maybe a life partner?
Or simply "your other/better half"?

[efish1042]

His dad introduced us to a friend of his once and called me my SO's "ladyfriend". Made me feel a bit cheap, to be honest, but I knew he meant well and tried not to be offended. I knew he just didn't want to call me a girlfriend because he also thinks that is less than what we are.

[ThePiedPiper]

I use/will use "partner." Here, "partner" is often what gay couples use (or "spouse" or "other half"), but as someone who does not plan on getting married, I prefer the term "partner" because, at least to me, it implies a deeper commitment than boy/girlfriend.

[sarahjane1992]

I usually call my SO my boyfriend. But to me, boyfriend sounds pretty casual. With our future including marriage, I'd say using significant other is better.

[Dezface]

We use partner. Boyfriend/girlfriend sounds too casual for most situations and we like people to know we're committed.

[Ejoriah]

Agree with Dezface. I refer to my boyfriend as my partner when talking about him/getting introduced. It feels right

[LadyDaemon]

Personally I refer to my fiance as my fiance for obvious reasons lol or I refer to him as my SO or other half. I really only reserve partner for if I happen to be in a relationship with a woman.

[aniay]

For now we refer to each other as boyfriend/girlfriend, though in my language there is no term for someone you are serious with but not plan to marry anytime soon (which sucks)

I still don't know how we'll refer to each other when we close the distance but untill then bf/gf will be enough. And if someone thinks it's childlish it's their problem

[NerdyChick]

I am not engaged to my SO as of now, but I do believe in marriage (one day) For me, I completely agree with you about the terms "boyfriend" and "girlfriend," where I am, they are used so often that people just assume it's going to be a temporary, superficial thing that will end in a few weeks. So for me, I tend to refer to my SO as my "special someone," it's feels more personal than "significant other", and is far less used and thrown around like "boyfriend." So yeah, he is my very special someone

[Benni]

B is my man and I'm his girl.

[kissingbunny]

This is going to sound silly, but our pet names for each other is Bunny...hence my screen name. It came about from the game where we met, the avatars we have run around with bunny ears on their heads and the name just came out of the game.

We had the whole talk of putting a label onto the relationship, and we are each others SO, boyfriend/girlfriend and whatever else you might want to call it...but I am quite happy being his Bunny

[charly]

I am his 'frugan' which means ' wife' while I introduce him as my boyfriend. Anything else would sound too old or grown up for me I think