Writing this blog, people often send me emails about their own relationships.
'Rufus and I have been dating for X number of years. We are blissfully happy, etc, etc.'
Which is nice. I am pleased for you and Rufus.
What does slightly irk me, however, (and please note I am well aware of how petty this is going to sound) is people constantly referring to their other halves as their "partner".
"I am 24 and my partner and I are getting married."
No, you are 24 and your boyfriend and you are getting married. Or your girlfriend.
I don't understand the need for this overly PC term. Call a spade a spade.
It was recently pointed out to me, that this is a particularly Kiwi expression.
"In Germany, your partner is someone you're in business with," said my friend Nina the other day.
The same is true all around the world, which I imagine, is the cause of several raised eyebrows when Kiwis travel the world and profess their love for their partners.
I have never used the word and hope I never do.
If I have the good fortune to have a "partner" when I'm older, I have every intention of calling him my "gentleman friend".
So much more enticing than partner.
I realise people use the word as it covers all manner of things; Your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your lesbian partner, the man you've lived with for 12 years but haven't convinced to marry you . . .
But that's the exact reason I don't like it. It's too ambiguous.
So dear readers, I ask you to take a stand and eradicate this feeble, insipid word from our national vocabulary.
Bring back the girlfriends and boyfriends of New Zealand.

By Joanna Hunkin Email Joanna
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