I feel like Jerry Seinfeld when I say this but; what’s up with the word boyfriend?
For those of us that are not married, but have a wonderful person in their lives, this label thing can be tricky. Say you’re at a friend’s BB-Q, the host introduces you to his brother and you in turn introduce your person, what do you say? This happened to us last weekend, I shook hands with the brother (Joe) and turned to introduce my…. I ended up just saying, “Joe, this is Thomas, he belongs to me”. I know, not great, but I was truly stumped and I made sure Thomas wasn’t offended, so not as bad as it could have been.
I just couldn’t introduce Thomas as my boyfriend, it sounded so teenybopper. At the half century mark, my guy is most definitely not a “boy” anymore, he’s a grown Man and much more than a “friend”. So, introducing him as my “boyfriend” just felt silly.
In situations like these, I’ve tried other ways of describing him and each “label” I’ve tried has it’s own issues.
For instance; Significant Other. That one seems to be the PC way of describing your person. However, Thomas may be significant, but he’s certainly not an “other”. I mean, other what? This is a flesh and blood human being we’re talking about, “other” is so sterile and uninvolved, nope Significant Other doesn’t work for me.
I tried Partner; “partner in crime” always pops into my head and I picture the two of us in striped pajamas, then I start to laugh and flub the whole introduction, so I can’t use it.
Then there’s Lover. Do folks really need to picture us between the sheets upon first meeting us? I dare say no. So that one’s out too.
After several years of trying on descriptions and names, I’ve ended up defaulting to “My Guy”. I’m not super happy with it as it’s kind of generic and possessive, but it’s the best I’ve got so far.
What do you call your person (assuming it’s not Husband) when introducing them? Leave me some suggestions in the comments, I’d love to find something that fits. Thanks!
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