Not sure what to call the person you’re dating? Feel uncomfortable attaching a “label” to your relationship? Wonderfully-named website GOOD gives a rundown and history of all the common ways to refer to someone (“significant other”) and some not-so-common ones (“POSSLQ”, anyone?).
significant other
History: Originally a social psychology term for, as the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, “any person with great influence on the behavior, self-opinion, etc., of another (esp. of a child).” The first hootchie-kootchie-ish meaning was found in 1977.
Pros: Makes the person feel significant—or at least significant-y.
Cons: Pretentious. Pretentious. Did I say pretentious? Also, it’s vague. I’ve viewed certain pizzas as worthy of significant-other status, but that may be a personal problem.
It’s a fun read, check it out here.
Tom is an entrepreneur and freelance writer, working out of his apartment full-time, or wherever he feels like taking his laptop. He doesn't take long European vacations or blogs on the beach. He's an Average Joe that took control of his life. He wants you to do the same.
