Today’s Weird Wednesday stems from the land of academia. It deals with those who are in or have been exposed to the intellectually knotty realms of academic culture for so long that they have de- and reconstructed language so many times that it barely resembles English. Or maybe it just has to do with straight people using the word “partner” in reference to their significant other.
Kelly McGillis and her partner Tom Cruise in Top Gun
A short while ago, I found myself sitting in a Women’s Studies class listening for any shred of a hint of a whisper of traces of gayness from my professor, with whom I was totally enamored. She was the only person to date who sent my gaydar signals spinning out of control like a compass entering the Bermuda Triangle. Then something happened. She began to make comments about her partner. “I knew it!” I thought, although I still wasn’t positive. Eventually she brought in her incredibly intelligent and charming partner, a male professor. While a semester’s worth of daydream bubbles popped and vanished into thin air all in one moment, and although her partner was a very nice man, I knew the truth. I knew that the ambiguities of “partnership” drove me insane.
To be fair, I can appreciate the non conformist, non label forcing title of using “partner,” it just really throws me off when straight people use it. Besides that, straight, gay or other, the word “partner” at all gives me a cold, formal kind of feeling. The word “partner”, in reference to your sweetheart, is the bologna of relationship terms.
That’s just me. I’m just saying. Do you feel differently? Comment about it!
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