When does boyfriend become "partner"

[OhEmGee25]

I'm over thinking this I know. I used "dp" in a post on another thread but then it got me thinking. When do you change that "label"? Been with my boyfriend only 11 months but we live together. Hmm. Yep. I'm over thinking

When you are 20.

Well I'm 25

I'd say when you live together and start sharing housework/income. However I suppose a lot of couples never share those things.

When you stop giving a shit that you haven't cleaned your teeth and when you don't mind wearing those really bad Joggers and stained t shirt.

When you live together.

I find the word 'partner' inexplicably cringey, so for me they're just boyfriend/girlfriend until yous decide you want to get married and become the most important person in each others life, and become each others family then it's 'fiance' then husband or wife.
I'd been with my now husband for 5 years when we bought a house but he was still just my boyfriend until he decided he wanted more than that :)
(I'm 27)

Boyfriend seems so out of favour now, really am not sure why, its a nice enough term!

The term "partner" goes back to Victorian times, basically two people cohabiting, "in it together", whether married or not. Perhaps it was used for people who didn't have any money - therefore legal and financial consequences were of less interest.

I don't really like the term partner much myself, has a dreary edge, ironically given the above.

But lots of people love their DPs, so who am I to say ...

'partner' is such a non descript PC word

In my world you have boyfriend, fiance, and a husband.

Partner sounds like a business arrangement, or a disguise for your lesbian lover where you haven't quite come out yet.

I say DP as we live together, have a baby together and I'm 42 so 'boyfriend' sounds ridiculous! We don't plan to marry so partner it is.

I don't live with mine so don't really feel I can call him DP. He calls me his GF which I'm fine with but I find the word 'boyfirend' so childish (he's 57 so it doesn't really work!) So I don't call him anything

boyfriend

Business partner relationship = 50/50 house work, joint account, name on birth
certificate.

Live together, joint housework and joint finances for me. Making big decisions together. Seeing your long term future together. For most couples I think if all that is true you're as well getting married.

I use DP on MN as a synonym for boyfriend. Partner sounds to me like people who plan to stay permanently unmarried/are in a civil partnership and don't like using husband/wife.

Yesterday somebody asked me if DP was my husband and I flinched. I am nearly divorced from ExH and very happy with life. DP and I have separate houses although we sleep in one of them most nights. But he is 54 and a bit old for boyfriend while partner sounds a bit like a business associate. (I laughed at the "lesbian who hasn't quite come out yet")
Perhaps I'll have to marry him just so I know what to call him!

When I first moved to the area I live in now, with my now DH, I went to the local corner shop to get some bits and bobs. Back then we weren't married...

The assistant was very friendly, chatting away, asked if I was new, blah blah. I said "Yes, I've just moved here with my partner". He looked at me funny and then said "Partner, are you gay?" I was so shocked I just started laughing. So I agree, saying partner makes other people think you're a closet lesbian! I used to say other half after that!! Until we get married....

*got married

When you stop fancying him

We live together and have a joint account. So partner it is by the definitions here!

@ Perry

I hate the term Partner, I feel like an idiot saying it. Makes me sound like a snob IMO.

I hate boyfriend too, only because it sounds like we are young and immature when we are starting to fossilize!

I prefer the term 'man friend' because it sounds like we are still having loads of sex

Mine is dp because we own a house together. Split all the bills, live as if were married but can't be arsed with the wedding. no one calls me his girlfriend and no one calls him my boyfriend, just partner...i quite like it

we went from boyfriend to husband, skipped partner (even though we lived together for years prior to marriage) and fiance because I felt like a tit saying either of those... but then sometimes "boyfriend" is too trivial for someone you live with?

Boyfriend and girlfriend are just wrong once either of you is past 25.

Partner means commitment, though, basically marriage in all but name.

So I guess if you're not a bright young thing any more but not yet committed either, then you're dating or seeing each other or summink. Lover is good, too.

whether he a bidie-in or bidie-oot
age, cant have boyfriend at 30
i say if living o'er the broom hes your partner

Funny, I have a significant other in my life and he asked me this question the other night. I'm in the process of getting divorced so it seems wrong to refer to someone else as my boyfriend (plus I feel around 20 years too old for one) and he clearly isn't my partner as we share nothing material. Personally I can't stand the term partner (or fiancé) and prefer to call people by their name.