Thursday 10 May 2007

When the English language lags

We have been civil-unioned for four weeks now. It’s great – I love being hitched, and things between us are better than ever. Yay!

There have been some interesting reactions to the C.U. as well. The best? Apparently Stephen caught up with an old old friend, and was giving her the low down on the last few years. He said that I’d recently had a civil union, and she responded “What? You’re gay AND Lauren’s a LESBIAN?”

The only thing that perplexes me in any way, though, is the lack of a word to describe what we are. Civil unioned? Cupped? Unionised? Married? They all sound a bit strange or heavy. I am also unsure what to call Tane now. Legally, he’s my civil union partner, not my husband. It feels a bit weak to just call him my ‘partner’, and ‘spouse’ is a little formal. I started calling him my ‘cup’ (Civil Union Partner) until my sister thought I was making a geeky Hitler reference and calling TaneMein Kampf”.

I know that it doesn’t really matter one iota and I love having a civil union. I will be relieved though when the great evolving beast that is the English language gives me a word for what we are. I figure that if the word ‘Do’h’ can make it into the dictionary, it’s only a matter of time.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Franglais rules in that department. We're "pacsed". And we're each other's pacsé and pacsée respectively.
Can't wait to see you in Europe
Julie

Anonymous said...

Can't you just call him your Tane?

MM said...

Haha.

Ko Ta-nay toku tane ...

Doctor_Harves said...

No way the French language has one up on the English this has to be rectified. Though getting a card for you guys took ages because of this problem.

e_heritage said...

"Hubbie", maybe? Or is that too naff/factually incorrect?