The F word

Comments on The F word

1. my boyfriend and I dated for 8 years before getting engaged, so “boyfriend” definitely was not appropriate for the seriousness of our relationship. My friend starting calling him my forever boyfriend, which I love. Now that we’re engaged, he hates the word fiance, so he calls me his future wife.

2. Once my current-f-word and I knew we were going to get married eventually, but before we were officially engaged, I really wanted a word to call him that was more than just “boyfriend” (I guess “beyonce” never occurred to me, though I don’t think he’d go for that). So in trying to mix “boyfriend” and “husband”, I came up with “boyband”. Never called him that, but the thought of it amused me to no end 😉

3. I could care less about the “F” word its my fiance that has taken a dislike to the word. I called him it once and we decided to change it to engagment buddy. He greatly approoves of this vs the alternative. I love calling him that and it catches a lot of people off guard

4. I know how you feel because I’m younger so when I say it everyone looks at me like “WHAT?!” I feel like I’m walking around with three heads they give me such crazy looks

5. I am so happy that i came across this post (and this website). Here I’ve been thinking that something is wrong with me because I am not wanting to make everything so “fussy”. It’s nice to know I am not the only one out there who cringes and the idea of the “F-word” among other things. My guy still thinks it’s weird that I get a little uptight with all the yucky love crap. Our wedding vows should be pretty interesting (and oddly enough what i am dreading the most). i am uncomfortable with PDA along with everything else! lol. What the heck am i gonna do?!?!

6. I think it’s easier to label the relationship than the person. Rather than “This is Aaron, my fiance,” go with “This is Aaron; we’re engaged.” Just my thoughts.

7. Normally I just say “This is my Ryan”… I hate both boyfriend & fiance. Boyfriend is too middle school & fiance is too… “HI I’M GETTING MARRIED GUYS!!!!” Ick. I dislike labels like that as a general rule, so its easier to just introduce him as *my* Ryan.

8. My husband and I just used “boyfriend”/”girlfriend” right up until the wedding. At some point hubby’s dad started introducing me as his son’s partner, rather than girlfriend. That happened even before we got engaged.

   I’m relatively comfortable with introducing him as my husband now, but I have to admit, it still feels kind of weird to think of myself as a “wife”.

   But yeah, neither of us were really comfortable with the F word and we didn’t really see the need, so we just skipped over it. Worked for us. 🙂

9. I realize this is a bit late, but I wanted to chime in. I too have issues with the word “fiance.” My partner (haha – see!) is not a native English speaker. When he proposed he got nervous and, instead of saying, “Will you marry me?” he said, “Will you be my Engagement Woman?” so… we go with that.

10. I’m late to the party, as usual! Skipped from page 1 to page 9, so I don’t know if someone has perhaps mentioned it, but what about the term “soulmate”? That puts the serious spin on it, sounds sweet and spiritual and should, hopefully, stop most people from saying, “so, when are you getting married?” Most but not all, I’m sure (rolls eyes). Also, I’ve always loved the Spanish “Mi Corazon” but it may be not quite as serious sounding. Novia/novio sounds good, too. Don’t know how that plays in Spanish/Latin societies. I definitely like soulmate or, heh heh, soulmate-to-be???

11. I find it interesting that so many people dislike the word ‘fiancé’. I actually dislike the word ‘boyfriend’. I find that ‘boyfriend’ sounds so young, almost juvenile to me. Saying ‘fiancé was a little strange (but good) at first, but to me it sounds like it carries expectation and responsibility towards each other, whereas I personally find that ‘boyfriend’ doesn’t sound as committed. I’ve been with my partner for 8 years so far… he was my boyfriend for the first half of this time, and my fiancé for the second half. I’ve called him by both names – and now I’m looking forward to calling him my husband. 😀

12. I refer to mine as my “husband elect” and he calls me “wife elect”

13. I went to see my doctor the other day about some allergies, and I made a comment about my fiancé. He responded, referring to my fiancé as my ‘intended’. I thought that was a little funny. I never really heard that before outside of book or movie. It sounds a little political maybe? I liked hearing that – I thought it sounded very respectful and mature coming a third party, but I wouldn’t say that myself, as it sounds like I intend to marry my fiancé, but may jump at some other opportunity. Interesting.

14. My mom started calling him my fancy, instead of fiance, and my aunts all call him my husband, it’s just easier. Since we had to push our date back 4 years, I called him my husband when necessary just to avoid the questions. Now we are in the home stretch, and since I just started a new job, I feel like I need to switch back to fiance, and explain the whole thing all over again. We have been engaged for 6 years…

15. I have been using partner since I first met Grant (skipping the “boyfriend” word all together). Being poly, I generally use boyfriend, girlfriend and lover as words to describe the other people we are with. It doesn’t work for everyone, but I really like the neatness of having a different word for everyone.

    Since our engagement, I will sometimes use fiance(e) as a term, but it is still not totally natural. We are both queer, and in any traditional sense… I make a freaking USELESS “wife candidate”. I find it silly. When I am not using partner, I will use “honey” or “life mate”. (Some people find “mate” very baby forcing, but being English “mate” was just a word for closer friend…. So “life mate” is sort of a way of saying “closest friends for life”.)

16. I’m to use to boyfriend. i say “my boyfriend, fiance, thing” ….i’m a little special with words…. >_>

17. My future husband will be my second marriage. So. As tacky as it is I refer to him as “The husband I’m going to keep.” Bwhahaha. <3

18. Oh my lord I have agonized so hard about this! The word “fiance” makes me want to puke. Especially since I live in Utah where getting married is a big fat hairy deal and calling your partner your fiance elevates you into being socially exalted and I hate that. I have no idea what to call us… It’s hard because I want to stay true to our relationship but at the same time I want people to easily understand it. It’s all so confusing. XP

19. I understand 110%. My man & I have been engaged for well over 3 years now & the only times we have ever used the word “fiance” is in the work realm. We thought employers might think it was more stable than just a simple boyfriend-girlfriend fleeting romance…

20. I had a little trouble too to begin with. I had just really gotten comfortable with calling Daniel my boyfriend after a year and when it hit me we were fiance and fiancee, it was hard to switch, but I did it. About 5 months later we both found that saying husband and wife were easier because thats how we trated each other and it was gonna be anyway, so whatever. Everyone knew we werent married and knew the date, so they didnt argue with us.

21. I don’t dig partner…it makes my betrothed and I equals, which is great…but it makes me feel like we’re not equals to cis/straight couples. I had surgery in December, and I made sure to give her a promise ring [I’m out of work and engagement rings have been picked out for months, and she’s offered to pay for her own ring, but I think it’d be as rewarding and romantic to earn it myself] In the hospital, we had to deal with a really mean nurse when I got out of surgery, she let my mom in but not my girl, she told the staff that she was my partner, the nurse said “only one visitor at a time then” which is bunk because the woman beside me had like 4 people… When I said she was my fiancee they treated us like valid members of humanity, like we almost had legal standing. I’m a closeted transguy, but I’m dorkishly even more excited about the wedding than my wife to be. We’ve been friends for 8 years and I’d been ‘jokingly’ telling her for the past 3 years based on misguided notions of love from romantic comedies that I was marrying her by the time she was 30… We would plan our imaginary wedding as friends except she had no idea I was fully serious. No one except her really sees me as a man, so when she uses the neutral pronoun of fiance [spelling isn’t picked up on verbally] it’s such a blessing to know that she’s able to secretly nod to my maleness and no one really has to know how we identify one way or another. Just your average queer straight couple really, with respect to her bi’ness. I find a lot of hang ups about language in general, I’m absolutely terrified of when we are actually married and I have to be her wife on paper… If you’re female and married you’re a wife, it’s semantics. We’re trying to think of simple ways to not have “I now pronounce you wife & wife you may now kiss..the bride? no no the other bride..eachother” because it would kill me… it would completely ruin my day to be called a bride or wife, I’m going to have to smile through it, but it’s not what’s in our hearts. And to have me do anything more masculine than wearing pants to our wedding will kill my mom, so it’s a real toss up. I love fiance, it makes me feel like she doesn’t have to out me and have people rub in my face that I’m female. It’s not about being better than single/unmarried people or proving ourselves as a mature responsible valid couple… but it’s one of the very few words she can use for me that doesn’t hurt or feel like a lie.

    • “When I said she was my fiancee they treated us like valid members of humanity, like we almost had legal standing.”

      Interestingly enough, THAT’S how I ended up getting “engaged.” Boyfriend ends up in the hospital while we’re on vacation. My mother tells them that I’m his “fiance” and instantly I get an all-access pass — even get to spend the night with him. Long story short — the word spreads about the fiance thing, people start congratulating us, we decide that clearly the world is telling us something and decide to just stay engaged. But that’s the moment I began my struggle with the F word. It never felt right. But I can totally see how it would be a blessing in your case — the same word no matter who you’re referring too!

      You can always choose not to have that “you may kiss the bride” moment. Think about creating your own ceremony from scratch, at end it with “you may now seal the deal with a kiss!” 😉

22. I wish that hospitals would let people be closer without legalities, I think if the sick person would want you there then you should be there, there are people I’m related to who would be the last people I’d want to see in an emergency and people who are just friend who would make me feel so much safer, I understand rules are rules but [cliche] I think often we pick our own people who matter to us and they’re not always blood relatives to feel like family… sometimes just the simplest comforts helps you through it all, alternately, dealing with negative people [ie: witchy nurse] puts you in a worse headspace when you’re already in your own personal battle.

    I’m lucky to be in Canada, I still deal with a lot of closed minded people, but if I were in the bible belt or something it could be so much worse.

    I do understand how not every transitional step in a relationship needs it’s own label and that what fiance[e] means to one person might mean something else to another as far as the weight of the word itself, it’s like, you’re getting married but you’re still who you are and once you’re married you’ll still be those same people, or whatever the situation is… but for me I like that it’s neutral.

    We’re kind of, bitter in our own rights, we’re silly and sarcastic… so we’re thinking of something along the lines of “Welp, you’re stuck with eachother now, so you might as well kiss”

    We’ve had a hell of a year, I moved in October which was really fast in the relationship, but by the time we’re married we’ll have known eachother close to a decade, but the second day there while I was still unpacking she ended up with some nasty flu bug that was causing pneumonia or bronchitis or some such thing that was going around, which had her passing out and she was screaming for me to call an ambulance… I didn’t even know our address yet, it was such a nightmare… I’d never really spoken to her parents but she was crying and asking me to call her dad, it was so awkward. 2nd Day living here… My mom offered to drive 45 mins into the city at 1am to keep us safe in a maternal way, and I told her I thought we’d be okay, and she told me Lindsay was lucky I was there, and that it was just kind of trial by fire, and we were going to just get the tough stuff out of the way early… So the “pssh, guess we’re stuck with eachother now” is a literal “in sickness and in health, in richer and in poorer” Which with both of us being in the hospital in a 3 month span and me not working for a year, is pretty close to the truth.

    I got a tattoo in honour of surviving this year, I’d never really had anywhere other than my parents place I called ‘home’ before, I’ve stayed in sketchy sketchy hostels in other parts of the country for months when I couldn’t afford a real apartment, I’ve couch surfed for extended periods, I’ve had arrangements kind of fall through but I’ve never had a place that felt like mine, or felt safe, and I never had a key that I could have for keeps, and I remember how scared I was when I kept rejecting her housekey offers because it felt so fast, even though it was what I wanted, I didn’t want it to mean more than she meant it as, I didn’t want to get my hopes up if somehow things were more casual than I thought… So I have a key tattoo because this is the first time I’ve really had a changed definition of home…someone who knows all my secrets…who I don’t try to push away and emotionally lock out… it sounds silly but I feel like I’ve got something good and I don’t have to run so much now

23. I’m semi-engaged at the moment. I don’t take issue with the word fiance, but since my guy wants to be a teacher, I call him my “Private Tutor.” It’s fun, and implies a teensy bit of naughtiness.

24. I say fiance, future husband or call him by his name. He says Beyonce.

25. I refer to my husband-to-be by his first name.
    If it was good enough for his mum to call him that, it’s good enough for me.

26. My betrothed and I both cringed having to get all fancy and use a new word to describe each other for the year we were engaged. I introduce him as my pre-husband and I’m his pre-wife.

27. I honestly hate the word boy/girlfriend. If you are over the age of 18 it should be banned from your vocabulary. I call my guy my “future fiance”. For thosem who can’t fiqure it out it is a guy who wants to marry you but hasn’t put the ring on your finger yet. It sounds better than boyfriend but you aren’t lying either because he isn’t your fiance yet. So grow up and call your future hubby or wifey something better than boy/girlfriend. Don’t they deserve that?

28. Before we got engaged, I had mostly made the switch from saying boyfriend (which seems somehow not serious enough for someone I’ve been with for over 5 years) to saying partner. Now that we’re engaged (it’s only been like a week so I’m still not used to it) I keep saying things like “this is my boyfriend FIANCE! Jonathon.” It’s kind of ridiculous. 😛 I kind of like the “betrothed” idea, because it’s so formal that it’s funny!

29. a friend of mine used “Husband of the Future”, which I thought was adorable and entertaining!

30. I call him my Fee-yank, and I’m his Fee-yanky 🙂 (our simple minds are easily amused by mispronouncing various things)

31. I really wish I’d found this thread agaes ago but I’m going to add my thoughts anyway. I’m from the the U.K and saying the word “FIANCEE” makes me want to punch myself in the face. I just cannot say it with hearing a a fake / snooty french accent klaxon going off in my head.
    We have come up with “this is the to-be” – as in “the to-be and me”. But the best one I’ve found is him calling me his “pre-wife”. In fact I like pre-wife so much I may just stick with it after the wedding.

32. I’m so glad I’m not the only one with a mortal fear of all things “fancy”.
    I started out using ‘partner’, but around here, that’s only what you call your boyfriend/girlfriend if you are homosexual, and I got a lot of funny looks. Finally, I got so exhausted by the whole thing that I now call him my ‘husbandfriend’, since he is both my husband, and my boyfriend.

33. My future wife and I sometimes say Lesbiancee — pronounced like Lezz-beyons-ay! 😛 And then we both giggle. Ha!

34. Dudeman. It just rolled off the tongue one day.

35. I think I would be comfortable with referring to my betrothed as my boyfriend – maybe introducing him as follows “This is my boyfriend; we’re engaged.”

36. I have never has a problem saying the word “boyfriend” and I don’t think I would feel uncomfortable saying the word “husband” but, honestly, “fiance” freaks me out. It seems arrogant, and stuffy to me. I tend to say something new every time I introduce Brandon to people and usually its is something off the wall that slips out. In a rush I usually just call him “my dude.” Unfortunately there is always that situation where you are around someone who refuses to understand what you are saying until the word “fiance” is almost literally choked out of your throat. When that happens, somewhere in the back of my head it’s always in a french accent followed by a “hauh hauh” and a mustache twirl. Overall, I like the “matrimonial Candidate”, but I think I will change it up a bit and call him my “Dating Prospect Champion” because he is the only one I have ever said yes too (I was asked twice before.)

37. My mister and I came up with “husby” and “wifeby” to describe ourselves. We’re not yet engaged, but he is my “husband-to-be”, so husby works perfectly for us!

38. At first I felt uncomfortable saying “fiance”. I had finally gotten really comfortable with “partner”, and I think I felt so dramatic saying “fiance”. But then again, I also remember feeling that same awkward transitioning into using the word “boyfriend” and “partner”. Hearing these terms come out of my mouth made me pause and think “Wow! That person is my boyfriend/partner/fiance!” I accidentally added drama to it by hesitating using the term because my heart just leapt a little. As time goes on, “fiance” just comes naturally so I no longer feel uncomfortable with it and cease making it a big deal.

    Also, my partner prefers to be called my fiance. He insists that these two years are the only time we will ever have to call each other “fiance” and I think he makes a really good point!

39. I had a hard transition from saying boyfriend to fiance and now that we’re married I’m having the same difficulty going from fiance to husband. We got married at the end of September and I still catch myself going between fiance and husband.

40. Not Husband/Wife. It’s always good.

41. I have been with my partner for 6 years and been engaged for nearly 12 months and i am still having so much trouble with the F word! I feel like every time i say it im making a point of saying “Mwahaha im getting married and you’re not!”
    But i agree, Boyfriend makes me feel like im 14 again. I tend to stick to calling him The Boy. I have called him that for the last 6 years and i dont think its going to change.

    He on the other hand has been taking notes from his Tim Minchin DVD and has started refering to me as his VELP – “Vaginally Endowed Life Partner” *Que eye roll* Oh well!

    I’m sure somewhere along the line i will get used to saying it. I only have another 15 months to use it so i feel like i should make the most of it

42. I love that I stumbled across this! My partner and I never use the word fiance. I don’t like it – we’re not French and it feels so unnatural to say. Funny how so many people seem to have such an issue with it when it is absolutely none of their business. I won’t be wearing a wedding ring either as my skin reacts terribly. We aren’t bothered by it, but the reactions we get are ridiculous. Anything slightly against the grain and it is sacriledge! Love this site, it’s very comforting!

43. I like to call him my adventure buddy. It works out well.

44. I LOVE the term fiancee. My fiancee and I have been together for a lot of years, and we struggled through using the term “partner.” And it was always “Oh, you’re lawyers?” or “oh, you’re roommates?” and it was never, ever, easy. Using fun terms like “adventure buddy” are even worse. No one gets them at all. Maybe it works if you’re straight. Shrug. But now I get to use a word that everyone understands! it is gloriously freeing.

45. I like to stress possession. I stress MY and often refer to him as “my heart”.

46. I’m a little sad to learn that so many people think of “fiance” as stuffy or pretentious. We’re a little older, so boyfriend/girlfriend has always been awkward for us, and I’ve never really liked the alternatives (partner, S.O., sweetie, lover). I was so happy to ditch boyfriend/girlfriend when we got engaged.

    Maybe it’s all context. Maybe in some regions, or some communities, or some age groups(?), “fiance” has a more snobby ring to it. Or maybe I’m just completely oblivious, who knows.

    Eh, I usually avoid the issue entirely by using his first name and letting people figure out that we’re in some sort of romantic relationship from context, or from how affectionate we are with each other. The people who are close to us know that we’re getting married; and for most of the people who aren’t that close to us, it doesn’t matter what they conclude about the nature of our relationship.

    We do amuse ourselves though with funny terms for it. One of us will look at the other and say something like “you’re my betrothed” or “we’re affianced” or “we’re gonna get marriedicated” or “you’re my fiyanky”. Usually followed by much giggling. 🙂

47. The e with the accent mark over it is an ASCII 130…

48. We (half)jokingly call each other ‘frienence’.

49. You can always go with pre-wife/husband.

50. I’m so happy I read this today! We’ve never identified with fiance/fiancee, but then, we didn’t get engaged either, which caused some confused surprise when the wedding invitations went out!

    We just use ‘Partner’, because that’s what we are: partners. (We normally say Teammate at home, but that requires far too much confusion in the real world!). Occasionally, we’ll say ‘husband/wife – elect’ when we’ve been watching too much West Wing.

51. I always call Adam my Fee-Onz-Say, in a very thick accent lol it changes from day to day. I hate the F word…. I can’t say it with out laughing hysterically and turning beet red so it’s better if I just make a joke.

52. i can’t wait to call the love of my life fiance!;so cute and formal. It is just so FINAL. Much more than a boyfriend, but not quite a spouse.

53. My ‘fiance’ and I ended up going with the terms “pre-spouse” and “husband/wife-in-training”. Mostly we use the second, as it is us. We feel we are in training. We continually learn new things about each other, and all of the trials and tribulations of planning the wedding and this extended engagement is just training for the new battles we’ll be facing TOGETHER as lifepartners. 🙂

54. I totally love being able to refer to my sweetheart as my fiance. It gives me a silly thrill every time I tell Siri “call my fiance” in order to auto-dial my sweetheart. I don’t at all see it as some “fancy french word” even though it clearly started as French because there’s no other English word for it, and it’s been part of the English vernacular for a couple hundred years now.

    But its meaning goes way beyond that for me: As a queer baby-boomer, I spent most of my life never imagining that I’d be able to have a real legal spouse any time in my lifetime, so to refer to my sweetheart as my fiance is something that is powerful and important to me. So for me, “Fiance” is an enormous privilege that I gladly and whole-heartedly celebrate finally having.

55. Before he officially proposed, while we were shopping for a ring and then waiting for it to be made, I hated calling him my boyfriend. I thought that sounded juvenile. He was somewhere between boyfriend and fiance. So I combined the two words and started calling him my boy-ance. People loved it! When he finally did propose I just kept the moniker because I also hate fiance.
    Now that we are married, I miss his old nickname. Husband is boring. 🙂

56. I just had to add this. I have the ‘f-word’ problem too, but at least we’re not like this:

57. I am definitely the minority here, but here’s why I LOVE “fiancé.”

    I am a femme bisexual engaged to a butch genderqueer. As our relationship progressed we avoided “girlfriend” like the plague, as we grew more and more committed to each other. If I said things like “person I am seeing” “person I am dating” they seemed far too clinical, and many affectionate terms were far too gendered. We began using “girlfriend” (me for her) or “ladyfriend” (her for me) a few months before we became engaged, although it never really rolled off my tongue, it was something people understood (read: we are not friends or roommates.)

    Fiancé works for us- it isn’t gendered and it is equal. He can say it to him. She can say it to her. She can say it to him. He can say it to her. Ze can say it to whoever they want. They can say it to each other.

    We both use it, often, and love it! We live in Louisiana, which doesn’t have marriage equality, yet. We are looking forward to its inevitable arrival. When people ask where we’re getting married, we are getting married here. (We’ll go to New York to “do paperwork” if we must).

    And I must admit, I do love the coming out moments I have every day:
    Me: blah blah blah my fiancé.
    Customer/store clerk/friend who hasn’t heard yet: oh you’re engaged! What’s his name?/ when did he propose? / blah blah blah he blah?
    Me: oh, she blah blah blah.

    I do enjoy that. Thus far all reactions have been positive and loving or neutral. I love fiancé. It’s exactly what we are right now.

    We’re discussing options for parenting names, post-marriage terms, etc.

    Anyone have any great ones that work for gender non conforming couples?

58. Hate it! I hated it the first time I was engaged and I hate it more now. .as my Anthony says ‘what is this? what are we French now?” lol
    relationships don’t need labels. we are what we are. . together. that’s it
    I just call him my Anthony most of the time

59. I can’t say I get this. My boyfriend and I aren’t quite engaged yet (pre-engaged), but I’m already itching for a word that’s less flippant than ‘boyfriend.’ I look forward to calling him my fiance. Maybe I’ll feel different once we turn that corner, but from my standpoint now, I like the sound of it.

60. I love this article. I feel weird calling my blondie my financee. It feels kinda like my fantasies all coming true (I have wanted to get married for the longest time. Blondie on the other hand, took his time settling into the concept) and putting us in a box at the same time. It feels too ‘one size fits all’ to me and I dont really like introducing him as my financee to other people. So I dont. Before he proposed, I was just as commited to him as I am now and I called him my blondie then so I do the same thing now. I introduce him as my blondie. He has always called me his wench (we’re sailors and he likes to be a pirate and I like to be difficult and outspoken!) and so he still introduces me as his wench. And we will likely still introduce each other in this way once we’re married!

    Weird thing is, I love him calling me his financee when we’re by ourselves and theres no one but me to hear it. *shrugs* No idea why!

61. YESSS!!
    I blame it on the fact that I used to take French growing up and I am inclined to pronounce French words all French-like which makes me sound like a douchbag. For reals.

    I love this site. I love that I’m not the only one!

62. Huh. This one never occurred to me. I’m glad people have alternatives, but I LOVE saying fiance. I think it rolls off the tongue more than boyfriend, and since I am totally embracing wedding talk it’s an excuse for someone to ask questions and for me to blab on and on. 🙂

63. I hate being called “girlfriend”…it actually kind of pisses me off when people say “your boyfriend”. I feel like that does not indicate the level of commitment we have for one another. When I think of the terms “girlfriend and boyfriend” I think of people who are committed, but are just dating. And believe me, there’s nothing wrong with that. However, this relationship more is than just dating. We are family. If I could call him my husband now, I would. I know he’s still not comfortable with the whole “fiancee” label for me (he would rather call me “wife”), because he probably feels a lot like the other people on this thread about the word. It just seems weird to me when I see people who have been together for 5, 10, 20 years still calling someone their girlfriend/boyfriend. There has to be a better word for a life-partner to whom you are not married to yet, or might not ever marry that indicates family-hood and a life-time commitment.

64. I’ve recently started calling my partner “my statistically significant other” or “my significant figure”.

    ….this is only funny if you’re a math or stats dork. But trust me, it is fucking HILARIOUS.

65. I have a hard time saying it, I giggle every time which is of course exactly what a mature, engaged woman of the 21st Century should do. He very confidently introduces me as his finacee all the time. I think he likes it, I feel like he’s been introducing me to every person we pass lately and I get such a kick out of it. Every time, I grin stupidly and get all squishy on the inside. After 5 years together, 3.5 of cohabitation, you would think I’d be a bit more chill about this whole thing but nope!

66. I struggle with f-word, mostly because I don’t like labels in general and we are choosing not to use the labels husband/wife. It is partly political, because there are many out there who are being denied this right to marry. Why should I go around inadvertently flaunting our marriage to our gay friends! He is and has been my partner for years and some legal document isn’t going to change any status we have for each other, it is only making it possible for us to move to a different country together. That said, I have never cringed when someone introduced me to their fiancee, I find it adorable and loving and instantly, you know the couple are dedicated to each other.

67. I feel like I would just say something like “This is my person. There are many like him/her, but this one is mine.” =)

68. We use Pre-Wife and Pre-Husband. Either that or Emergency Contact Person.

69. Just got engaged a few weeks ago and we are completely struggling with the the whole fiancé thing. We’ve been boyfriend/girlfriend for over ten years and seems weird to toss a new label on our relationship… I’m going to start referring to him as my betrothed.

70. We use “larval husband” and “larval wife”. Hehe 🙂

71. For a while I called my guy “fusband,” as in “future husband.” Then I stopped because he didn’t care for it, but sometimes now I overhear him refer to himself as my fusband 😉

72. I worked for an airline and we could register a person to travel with us, so I would always introduce my boo as my registered companion. We also eloped, so I never said the F word. It really is a corny word.

73. My ‘fiance’ aka ‘partner’ but preferably Man-Beastie and I equally dislike fiance because… well… it sounds overly elaborate to us, when referring to each other.

    I love being introduced to other people’s Significant Others when they use ‘this is my fiance’ and / or ‘this is my partner’. But for us, and our relationship, it isn’t right. We were very serious from the start and, being older (though not at all mature!), boyfriend/girlfriend under-states what we mean to each other.

    Partner, however, sounds like we run a business together. I toyed with beloved and betrothed, which were cute but not quite us. I dislike other half, because it implies I’m half a person without him (which I feel inside, but I’m no less valid when he isn’t around… I just miss him!).

    So he’s the Man-Beastie, I’m the Lady-Beastie, we are collectively The Beasties. It’s daft, light-hearted, and very us. Though it doesn’t really express how serious we are about our mutual commitment to our life as a team.

    I’m very much looking forward to being officially the Wife-Beastie and to him being the Hubbicus.

    We both, by the way, rather liked Matrimonal Canidate and Spousal Unit. Matrimonal Candidate is right, and non ‘poncy’ but does what it says on the tin, and Spousal Unit works well given I call my folks the Parental Units, and self-refer as Daughter Unit #1 (being the first-born, not that I’m more important!).

74. me and mine also have a weird time saying ‘fiance’. not because we dislike it, we’ve just been dating for so long and referring to each other as bf/gf that its weird to say something else. and its almost feels like digging for compliments or congratulations from people who aren’t aware of our engagement but I feel like its lying or something calling him my bf when he’s not technically that anymore.

75. It’s like you’re speaking my thoughts!! I can’t STAND the word fiance!! I don’t really know why, my friends used to pull me up when I referred to him as my boyfriend, after we got engaged. It just feels a bit…pretentious. He’s my partner, so that’s what I call him 🙂 He refers to me as his wife despite the fact we haven’t actually got married yet, for us, the wedding is making official what we already are – partners for life. e doesn’t see a need to give me another title for a little while.

76. I’m a teacher and work at a school where adult-kid interaction is very important. Teachers have conversations with the kids all the time. I felt weird talking to students about my “boyfriend” because it felt too juvenile. Hence, the term “house-husband-in-training” was born. Now that we’re engaged, I’m sticking with it.

77. I don’t really use it because I’m just not in the habit. People are always mistaking us for husband and wife already and we have been using the term partner for a long time since boyfriend/girlfriend sounds awfully trite when you live together and have lived through major calamities together (cancer, chemo, radiation, fertility preservation etc…) but now that we are engaged I think I’ll start calling him my “fancy”, because it sounds close enough to the F word to be a play on it and I do fancy him quite a bit!

78. My husband-to-be calls me his “Pre-Wife”- he says it’s because he can’t spell fiance. I didn’t like it at first but now it’s come to mean a lot to us both. After being engaged a year now though, he seems to get aggrivated with the “pre” part sometimes.

79. Come on guys, y’all are acting like “betrothed” and “Snuggles” aren’t even options.

80. I don’t like boyfriend, I am no longer at school! I actually don’t mind fiancé, but he tends to call me his missus, or the boss 🙂 and I call him my fella, or hubby to be, but usually its other half, and this feels right, because its true. I’m looking forward to calling him my husband though

81. I’ve been engaged for 6 years and rarely call my guy my fiance, his my significant other or my partner, or even more simply mine! Fiance just sounds so up tight , so old money to me.

82. YES, I feel weird every time I say it! Glad someone else feels the way I do! I’m pretty sure FH doesn’t have the same inner-turmoil as me. He always corrects me when I say boyfriend.

83. We’re in transition, both of us seriously planning our wedding, without being engaged.

    Boy/girlfriend feels childish, but being non-official leaves limited terms. We tend to keep it light, with terms like my “keeper, minder, chief mischief maker, back rubber extraordinaire, queen blanket theif”.

    If people want to really be obnoxiously pressing, I tell them that he’s my tomorrow. It’s the most true thing I can think of and it also is sappy enough that most people get awkward and wander off. 🙂

84. I on the other hand, adore the word “fiance”. Granted I’ve only gotten to use it for about a week, but I’ve been dating my guy for more than 6 years. We have grown from awkward teenagers into adults together, we lost our virginity to one another, I was there when his dad died, we flew out of our parents nests and made a new one together– so much life stuff that “boyfriend” just doesn’t cut it. It sounds like we are still in high school or I just picked him up at a bar.
    “Future husband” also works for me. And partner. But fiance is a special word to me that better embodies how serious we are about each other and I am so excited to use it.

85. SO flippin’ glad to read this post and so many of the comments who agree!!!!

    Spousal Unit is pretty hilarious….I think I might just try out each option out loud and see which doesn’t feel like my tongue gets stuck on itself.

    I think, for me, at the end of the day any and all of the words makes me feel like I’m showing off or something. Like, “oooOOOooo! Look at me!!! Someone loves me enough to put a ring on it…OooOOooO! Watch me with my fancy words!” *does fancy dance*

86. We don’t use the “F” word either. We tend to say, partner, significant other, or just jump right to the wife/husband even though we are not “legal” yet. We have been together about 8 years now (we can’t say for sure, because its our time together, not the date of that time, that we care about) so we even occasionally say that say something along the like of “We are Goldie and Kurt – ing it” in reference to Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, who have been together a very long time and still have not yet married.

87. I’m partial to “forever buddy.”

88. I have the hardest time with the word fiance, as well. In fact, well into our relationship he was “the b-word” and now I regularly refer to my guy as my “F-Word.” That’s even how I have him listed in my phone!

89. My friend works in politics, so she’s been using Husband-elect! 🙂

90. Even worse than the word fiance is the word “hubby.” I am dreading the day someone refers to my husband as hubby.

91. Agreed! It feels strange to say. We started pronouncing it “feyonce” like Beyonce as a joke. Turns out that’s an actually thing (google away for t-shirts, etc). Most of the time we just shorten it to “my fee”, “future hubby” or one of the other random nicknames we have for each other

92. My problem with the word fiance (or fiancee) is that it sounds so pretentious. I have known same girls who are like “He’s mt fiaaaaanceeeeeee,” as if it means something MORE than just being in a serious relationship, or that they’re just bragging that THEY got engaged. My future in-laws call me his more-than-girlfriend, because they know that that word really f*cking bothers me.

93. I like variations on the word, domestic. He’s my domesticator and we are domesticating in a domesticative domestication. It doesn’t carry the non-committal or immature stigma of boy/girlfriend and also sounds a bit naughty, which both of us (shamelessly) are. I love to domesticate with him in front of visitors and sometimes we’ll domesticate together when visiting others! ;D

94. Before we were engaged, I couldn’t wait to use the word “fiance” because “boyfriend” started to feel really juvenile after a few years, and didn’t represent our level of commitment (we were together nearly 6 years before getting engaged). But now that I am “fianceed”, I still find myself using “boyfriend” more often than not. It’s all in my head, I realize, but I feel like I/our engagement won’t be taken seriously because I’m young (and not THAT young, mid-20s, but I look younger) and live across the country from my person, so most of the people I talk to in person have never met him. I really like the word “fiance”, but can’t usually say it with enough confidence to own it. I’ve always had icky feelings about the word “husband”, too. Hopefully, I’ll get more used to “fiance” (and then “husband”) as we get more serious about planning both our wedding and our future lives together. Again, I realize this is more for the sake of other people than myself, but I feel that if I can offer concrete evidence that we’re serious (he has a full-time job now! she moved to the same state as him!), then others will take me/us seriously, and I’ll gain the “right” to use the terms that have rightfully been ours for nearly a year now.

95. our friend jokingly referred to me as my fiance’s “pre-wife” one day when we were drinking and it kind of stuck as a joke. I refer to my fiance as my “pre-husband” a lot. And one day he called me his “post-girlfriend”.

96. My other half has always been “man friend”. He began that way (we were 26 and 27, respectively, when we met almost 7 years ago!), and I’ve continued to use that term throughout our engagement- and interestingly, so have all my friends and family. Not a single person I care about refers to him as my fiance. Of course, we are also oft referred to as “Chips (him) and Guac (me)” or “Cheese and Crackers”, so you probably don’t want to follow our lead 🙂

97. Lol–I have never liked that word either! It doesn’t really fit me, or us, at all. I use it anyway, for lack of a better word, when I think about it or I can make myself say it without feeling totally stupid (which is rare). Often, I forget and end up saying “boyfriend.” I don’t think anyone really cares, nor do I, so I don’t get too hung up on it. The word husband has always seemed weird to me too–it reminds me of husbandry. I mean–that’s the word I’ll probably use, but it will probably take a while for saying it to come naturally. No–it will not be replaced with “hubby”–I pretty much despise that word.

98. From the opposite end of the spectrum, I love being able to use the word Fiance because it is the most gender neutral term to use when talking to wedding vendors about our queer wedding. If I can just say fiance, then we can avoid the awkward interaction where I have to come out to complete strangers before I can sign a contract or book their services. Gay marriage is legal in our state, so that shouldn’t even be a factor. I don’t need to come out to every person I meet, the important ones know and that’s all that matters. For the LGBT couples, being able to use fiance is that common ground, where some of the uncomfortable interactions are made easier. We are using Hersband and Wife after we get married as my fiance is gender queer and would die if she was called wife.

99. I’ve never minded it, when I got engaged I quite enjoyed using the word! However there is a guy at work who hates the word (oddly enough he’s french..) and it has led to many confusing conversations about planning a wedding with his girlfriend lol.

    I think I’d use the one “better half” if I didn’t use the word fiance. I’ve always loved it when people said “my better half” so old school romantic.

100. Thank you! I was beginning to feel like a freak for just not likin the word, I love my boyfriend, I love that we are engaged and can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him, but I HATE that word it just feels wierd.

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