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[AlohaDawg]

So's Hobot.

[Golfhaus]

I also got the HUUUGS shirt for a girl for Christmas... my girlfriend was very understanding about the fact that it didn't arrive until today - mainly because she got me Achewood stuff that didn't arrive either. I got two Lyle pint glasses, and a signed Liquor Taste Test with frame.

The two most significant gifts came from parents. My mom got me a year's worth of insurance on my condo. Sara's parents got me a spiffy leather jacket.

[theinevitable]

wow, so.
if there were a person who posted their picture on this board, I might tell them that they were quite attractive. But, that would be creepy of me, so I won't.

Choopernickel-- the last time I went I was in 7th grade, so, I have essentially no idea.

[Hobot]

I have to wonder, did someone bestow a tiny can of Dr. Pepper upon me for my picture, or for my unrelenting and incisive wit?

[jough]

It had to be for the photo.

[AugustWest]

I have to wonder, did someone bestow a tiny can of Dr. Pepper upon me for my picture, or for my unrelenting and incisive wit?

Umm, which would you prefer to be flattered for?

[misterqueue]

I have to wonder, did someone bestow a tiny can of Dr. Pepper upon me for my picture, or for my unrelenting and incisive wit?

Look at it this way, is it better to have a tiny can of Dr. Pepper or a bunch of lecherous comments posted?

I mean, me, I pick the latter; but I understand most would prefer the former.

[AlohaDawg]

I have to wonder, did someone bestow a tiny can of Dr. Pepper upon me for my picture, or for my unrelenting and incisive wit?

Picture. of course.

[theinevitable]

so, I need to ask this.
Hobot, like many on this board, refers to her "SO". What is this? I realize it's "significant other", but why not "boyfriend" or "girlfriend"? Is that too old fashioned? Am I missing something?

Or, maybe it's one of those things. Like this episode of Seinfeld I watched yesterday, where a Elaine sees her boss eating a Snickers with a fork and knife, so she starts doing it, and someone sees her... and by the end, everyone is eating candy with utensils.

All I can think of is it being a politeness thing. Like, to be nonspecific in gender and orientation? but then, why the gender-specific pronouns? When i first saw it, I thought "oh, this person is homosexual, and doesn't want awkward "omg but you're a dude!" comments." But, in fact, I have seen this for all varieties of SO.


Or is it just shorter to say? And easier, with the confusing relationships of modern human society?

[jough]

It's because people are assholes, and are trying to make everything gender neutral so as not to offend some imaginary person who supposedly would be offended by the use of a gender-specific term.

Also, people, especially in the U.S., seem to think that the Constitution provides a Right to Not Be Offended.  But it does not.

I remember referring to the woman who brought me a tiny can of Dr Pepper on an airplane to be a "stewardess" and was told that the "correct" phrase was "flight attendent" because the man who also holds the job probably wouldn't want to be called a stewardess.  I politely reminded the smarmy fuck that his title is "steward."

Also, I believe it is legal in the state of Pennsylvania to slap someone who refers to those round metal plates in the street as "personholecovers."

This also reminds me: when we were kids my friend's mom wouldn't permit him to say "helicopter" because it had the term "hell" in it - so he had to say "heckacopter" and sound like a douchebag.

Also: he was not allowed to play outside when the street lights went on, which probably was fine when they were on a timer, but when they switched them over to a photosensor, he had to stop playing football in the street at like, 4:30PM.  I can't remember if he was allowed out when it was cloudy or not.

[jough]

Oh, and to answer the original question I think "significant other" implies a more serious relationship than "girl/boy-friend" does.  It's in-between gbfriend and fiancee.

[CortJstr]

I use SO because it's only two letter for me to type. Also I can never remember which letter gets an accent in fiancee. Sometime I even use it when speaking just because it seems weird to say "boyfriend" when the people involved are like 30.

[V-Adore]

Oh, and to answer the original question I think "significant other" implies a more serious relationship than "girl/boy-friend" does.  It's in-between gbfriend and fiancee.

Yeah, that's why I use it. I have been known to use "boyfriend" as well, but "boyfriend" to me does not connote "adult with whom I am in a long-term relationship" particularly well, and most of the alternatives are sketchy- or stupid-sounding. ("Lover" implies that we're meeting for restless nights in one-night cheap hotels, "paramour" indicates that we are apparently Merchant-Ivory characters... and from there it's turtles all the way down.) Ergo, I use SO as shorthand for "person with whom I am romantically involved in a way more long-term and binding than 'boyfriend' would connote but which has not yet reached 'fiance' level."

(Also, I'm with Cort on the accenting issue: while I luckily only have one e to remember, 'fiance' without the accent looks wrong, and with the accent it takes extra effort and looks a little pretentious, so... y'know, SO.)

[Hobot]

Oh, and to answer the original question I think "significant other" implies a more serious relationship than "girl/boy-friend" does.  It's in-between gbfriend and fiancee.

Ditto.  Also, I dig both ladies and fellows, so SO conveniently covers both situations.  Huzzah for my perpetuating a Smithie stereotype!

And the accent in fiancé(e) is always on the first "e."  The second "e" is used to denote femininity.  It's a French "thang."

[wombat]

it seems weird to say "boyfriend" when the people involved are like 30.

Yes.  This seems to me like a sufficient reason to use an alternative.