They're slightly more normal than duck or chuck
I've heard "duckie" or "duck" used as a term of endearment on occasion, but "chuck" is new to me.
You've never seen Wallace and Gromit?
They're slightly more normal than duck or chuck
I've heard "duckie" or "duck" used as a term of endearment on occasion, but "chuck" is new to me.
I've always thought that 'spouse' was a good gender-neutral unloaded word, although I don't think I've ever heard anyone use it in real life - I first came across it in a novel and assumed it was an Americanism for a concept we don't have over here... (although does it explicitly refer to someone you are married to?)
Perhaps the latter usage is the more "correct" one, but in that case surely it's the use of "mate" to mean friend in British/Australian vernacular that's the "corrupted" use? I sort of assumed the same sort of thing is happening there as happens with "friend" - when a friend calls me "mate", they're borrowing the shell of something more powerful than is suited to the content they're currently wrapping it in, for effect if nothing else. Sort of a linguistic false advertising, I guess, wrapping a mild feeling in the packaging that usually contains a strong one, to bypass any awkwardness and encourage acceptance of the bond between you. It's something different behind the word but paradoxically it isn't? A least that's been my assumption. It seems to me that the widespread acceptance of "mate" in the common casual use is a reflection on the emotional power of the word in its "true" use. So I might as well acknowledge the power of the original.
I've noted it's fairly common in Sci-fi, including Trek, to use "mate" for a long-term or serious partner; I find that makes some degree of sense. After all, whatever cultural systems a given race has governing initimate relationships, all those races are responding to the same underlying directives, and I think the term "mate" acknowledges that, speaks to a common ground the majority of species would share.
I've heard "duckie" or "duck" used as a term of endearment on occasion, but "chuck" is new to me.
You've never seen Wallace and Gromit?
Perhaps the latter usage is the more "correct" one, but in that case surely it's the use of "mate" to mean friend in British/Australian vernacular that's the "corrupted" use? I sort of assumed the same sort of thing is happening there as happens with "friend" - when a friend calls me "mate", they're borrowing the shell of something more powerful than is suited to the content they're currently wrapping it in, for effect if nothing else. Sort of a linguistic false advertising, I guess, wrapping a mild feeling in the packaging that usually contains a strong one, to bypass any awkwardness and encourage acceptance of the bond between you. It's something different behind the word but paradoxically it isn't? A least that's been my assumption. It seems to me that the widespread acceptance of "mate" in the common casual use is a reflection on the emotional power of the word in its "true" use. So I might as well acknowledge the power of the original.
Actually it's the other way around. "Mate" originally came from a word meaning someone you share a meal with, a tablemate (perhaps etymologically related to "meat"), or by extension a houseguest. (Much like "companion," which literally means someone you share bread with.) It was used to mean an associate or comrade by the 14th century, and came to mean a crewmate on a ship by the 15th century. Its earliest known use to mean a member of a wedded pair is from the mid-16th century, with its use for animals emerging, presumably by analogy, around the end of the 16th century.
So what seems to us like the primary usages are actually the more recent ones, not the more ancient ones. Which kind of makes sense, if you think about it. The more recent the usage, the more prominent it would logically tend to be in our awareness.
And I guess it shouldn't surprise me that a word as broadly defined as "mate" would have a fairly simple concept at its core -- someone you share your table with, someone you share your belongings with (since the word came from times when your food was something you usually acquired or grew yourself, rather than going out to a restaurant to eat). That implies trust, friendship, partnership, intimacy, a whole gamut of connections.
That's the term I usually use in this situation.Then there's "significant other", which has the added bonus of sounding wonderfully scifi-jargon-ish abstract ... 'cause what is new life and new civilizations but significant others?
I don't think "mate" is weird: in fact, I think it's perfectly fine.
^There's always "lover." That used to have a tawdry connotation, but I don't think it really does anymore.
It seems like a more charged word than spouse or mate. "Lover" is very...emotional.
Why did Fabian & Corsi have to be separated by assignments, while Riker & Troi, and Picard & Crusher did not?
And if the answer involves "Riker and Picard are both Captains"... le sigh.
Just thought of this, so if it's already been addressed elsewhere, please let me know.
(To the other discussion, the most common connotation I hear for the word "lover" is the person that someone is cheating on their spouse with. Presumably this is the "tawdry" connotation that Christopher alluded to?)
We've been living together for almost 3 years, and we are planning on getting married. But what do you call eachother untill then?