NaBloPoMo Day 5: My Partner, My Boyfriend, My Lover

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I don’t understand the term “my partner,” particularly in the context of heterosexual relationships. It makes me imagine both “partners” linking arms and skipping around in a folk dance routine. My mind automatically defaults to thinking,
'Ah!  Gay couple.' whenever I hear it. I suppose “my boyfriend/girlfriend” would sound juvenile for an older couple and “my lover” would sound too explicit. And “my husband/wife/spouse” would sound weird for people who are living together but don’t want to get married/haven’t really acknowledged each other in that way yet. For some reason, "my common-law" has always sounded lame and clunky to me, as if the individual were downplaying/lacked confidence in the officialness of their relationship.  Why don’t we have a pretty word like in French, “mon amoureux*,” which is what Vanessa Paradis uses (used?) for Johnny Depp?

*It technically means “my lover” but in French it seems much more poetic and romantic and less raw.