Friday, 20 November 2009
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Love: Politically Correct Edition and Commentary
You all heard that saying, "significant other," well, my question is - which other? I know a lot of, "other" people aside from myself, but which others? And how are those, "others," "significant?" if neither, "significant," nor, "other" are defined?
Well, I suppose then all my teachers I have ever had are my. "significant others" because well, they are others, and they were significant, or are significant because they teach me stuff. Isn't that legitimate enough?
So, what is wrong with calling the person you love, the person you are actually in a relationship with, "lovers?" Or, some other love-related term, like, "my babe..." or, "my sweetheart..." or,"my boyfriend/girlfriend..." Are not those terms more accurate and precise? I mean, what makes others so significant that we fail to define exactly what either of those two words in the phrase mean?
Is love so forbidden and unmentionable, even embarrassing that we resort to such silly terms like, "significant other?" Are we so immature and childish we need to take away the, "offensiveness" of love itself? What if one day, hypothetically, love is no longer called, "love?" Instead, it is called, "sudden plusgood emotional outpourings?" That is right, "sudden plusgood emotional outpourings!" And what about the term, "couple?" Well, we can easily make that more politically correct by saying it is simply a, "strong comradeship" could we not? And how about the term, "sex" (the act) - "semi-automatic-manual double production!" And what about sex, the biological term itself, "manufactured external-internal production mechanism!" How about a politically correct term for, "marriage:" Permanent unpaid contract! At what point does any and all political correctness just become a form of manual, monotone language - devoid of emotions, feelings, and life itself? Imagine - language devoid of meaning, essence, truth, and honesty.
My point is, this whole political correctness thing in regard to love, relationships, and marriage is taking away the life out of life, and the love out of love, and the relationship out of relationships.
What do you, my dear readers think? Has this whole, "significant other" thing gone too far? And should we just call each other what we really are when we are in a relationship - girlfriend, boyfriend, lover, etc?
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- From: L_O_R_D_X101@xanga
- Name: Xinyu
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Comments (24)
well "significant other" is perfectly acceptable in some situations (like talking about a group of people who are all in relationships), and i don't see what's wrong with being politically correct.
that said, i am not bothered by either politically correct or politically incorrect phrases.
How is using the term "significant other" politically correct? Then again, what is wrong with being politically correct?
If people want to use that term, they should be allowed to use said term to describe their relationship or other people's relationships. As long as we respect each other and who we love, I don't see how this is offensive to the concept of love.
@salvatruca_stalking_havok13@xanga - I think significant other was deemed the political correct term when the homosexual community was getting annoyed that people would assume their partners were either a boyfriend or a girlfriend, and then when getting civil unions would be asked "ok so which one is the bride and which is the groom?". Significant others became more popular as to not assume anything and make less people upset.
I personally dislike the term heh. It's annoying to me. I've used it a few times on here because I see it so much I figure people just respond to it better, but I tend to go back to saying bf/gf more often. Especially if I'm talking about my own girlfriend I'll just say girlfriend. Saying Significant Other seems cold and emotionless like there was actually no connection between us and she was just some object. But that's me.
how about you let people call it whatever makes them comfortable and stick to relevant topics
It seems easier to me than asking, "So, do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend or both?" when I could just as easily ask, "So, do you have a significant other?"
It seems less intrusive than to either, a) throw out the assumption that they are homosexual, or b) that they have have more than one partner.
@JusticeCho@xanga - yeah that was basically exactly what i was gonna say LOL ... except, you know, with my boyfriend.
i typed SO in a response once and i was like ...woah. dislike. it sounds like you're talking about an alien or something.
SO is just a way to refer to either boyfriend or girlfriend without having to write the two out.
I think people should just call it what they want. Being stuck-up about it doesn't work.
"Other half", "lover", "boy/girlfriend", "sweetheart", what IS the matter with those?
I use it if I'm trying to talk about multiple people and don't want to deal with the confusion of gendered pronouns/nouns. For example, it's a lot easier to say "What cute things do you do for your significant other?" instead of saying "What cute things do you do for your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife/lover?"
I think the term significant other is meant as a catch-all. Asking if someone has a significant other is easier than saying, "do you have a boyfriend, girlfriend, partner, lover, etc."
The term lover implies that you are having sex, and not every romantic couple has sex, and it seems a bit odd to differentiate the couples that have sex with each other from the ones that don't.
I like to call my s.o. sexy hunk machine
I call my husband my hubby, or if I am joking, that dude I'm married to
I don't see SO as politically correct
I call my husband my hubby, or if I am joking, that dude I'm married to
I don't see SO as politically correct
@EccentricSiren@xanga - my thoughts exactly.
"This is Eric. He's my penetrater."
- Kunoichi
I think you are overreacting a tiny bit.
@KrazeeKunoichi009@xanga - LOL! ILU XD
"Significant other", I think, is kind of the equivalent of how we use "partner" in the UK: a term you can use without specifying gender or marital status. I probably wouldn't use "significant other" to refer to my own girlfriend - I prefer just saying "girlfriend" - but if I was asking somebody else whether they were in a relationship or not, or talking about relationships in general, I might say "significant other" to people who weren't in the UK. If I was here, though, I'd just say "partner".
"Significant other" always makes me smile when people use it to refer to their own relationship, though. It seems like some cute, mock-enigmatic pet name that would be followed by a smile or possibly a ;) emote.
I think significant other sounds lame, I'm not a fan.
I'd much rather say: "This is my lover/boyfriend/girlfriend" etc.
@breaking_expectations@xanga - Agree. Significant other sounds, Very old fashion. Lover, is my favorite term :wink:
I really like the phrase "significant other."
Thanks for the comments everyone. But, more specifically - my concern is the future of the English language if political correctness continues, and since language is a function of time..it is deemed to get...worse.
Watch George Carlin on Euphemism. It is a philosophical matter of languge, reality, and perception.
Thanks
This is so dumb. First of all, the term "significant other" doesn't get used as much in the real world as it does on these blogs, and it gets overused so much its word abuse. And people shortening it to "SO" drives me crazy. My boyfriend is my boyfriend. And when we get married he'll be my husband. He's my lover, in all aspects of the word, so I call him lover sometimes too. Just like my mom is significant to me, but I don't call her "my conciever," or something ridiculous like that.
i like saying lover, i don't need a boyfriend, but a man who i love =)