Sunday, April 29

Checking the thesaurus...

bumper sticker from here


I know I've brought this up before but Ruth Walker in The Christian Science Monitor did a much more mature job than I did of dealing with the whole Wolfowitz/Riza "companion" thang.

...Riza is unquestionably a grown-up, professional woman, not a "girl." What is the term for two bona fide grown-ups of opposite sexes who keep company? I suppose the question I'm asking is, What is the adult form of "boyfriend" and "girlfriend"?


I mean, why don't we just come out with it and call her his "squeeze"? It's fit to print, works whether the "relationship" is extra-marital or not, and most importantly, is gender and age neutral.

Problem: "Main Squeeze" according to Houghton-Mifflin can also mean one's boss, as in, "who's the main squeeze in this office?" In this case, Wolfowitz's relationship with The World Bank would be "main squeeze," and his relationship with Ms. Riza would be...am I thinking too much? Sorry.

3 comments:

  1. All the Agitators were discussing this at dinner tonight.

    "Significant others"? Shoot, my dogcould fit that description.

    "Life partners"? Not if you break up.

    "Man/womanfriend"? Sounds like something an alien from Star Trek would say.

    This is HARD.

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  2. On second thought, in this particular context, "concubine" works very nicely...

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  3. Anonymous2:36 PM

    Consort is used for both whores and lovers.

    The diffculty wiht Riza is which one is she?

    Organic George

    ReplyDelete

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