A "girlfriend" word

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by breeze, Jul 21, 2009.

  1. breeze Registered Member

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    If I say, for example, that my girlfriend and I went shopping, it would mean that I have a romantic relationships with the person or she is just a friend of female sex? :shrug:
     
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  3. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

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    If you are male, it means your lover, if you are female, just a friend of yours. (most of the time, unless you are lesbian)
     
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  5. breeze Registered Member

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    Thanks a lot
     
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  7. nirakar ( i ^ i ) Registered Senior Member

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    Interesting how you would never hear heterosexual men saying that "I hung out with my boyfriends yesterday".
     
  8. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    When I was a kid in the 1950s little boys used to say that without any onus on it. My mother continued to use the term to describe my male friends when we were 16-17, and even though none of us would have said it we were not embarrassed by it. Today even gay men would never use it to describe a male friend with whom there was no hint of romance.

    British and Australian men can call their male friends "mates," but we don't have a word like that in American dialect. Over here your mate is your wife, not even your live-in girlfriend, The word is much more commonly used for socks. We can talk about our "buddies," which applies only to male friends, but it implies a rather close friendship: someone who would lend you money or help you move, as someone recently defined the terms of a close friendship rather accurately. The guys you meet at the bar after work but nowhere else are not all your buddies. Same for "pals," which is a somewhat older word not as often used any more. We don't have pals of the opposite sex but a guy who wouldn't help you out of a jam is not a close enough friend to qualify as a pal.

    When I talk about "my friends" the listener has no clue whether they're male, female or both. Adult women can still use the word "girlfriend" and some do, especially as an interjection: "Girlfriend! Why did you let that loser take you to his apartment?" But I would say it's not even widely used any more by women. Women talk about their "friends" and we can't guess their gender unless the context gives a clue.

    Apparently modern Americans have reached a point where it's unremarkable for everyone to have friends of both sexes without needing to distinguish them. At one extreme, even in the bar, and at the other extreme, even if they'd bail you out of jail.
     
  9. mike47 Banned Banned

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    A girl friend means sex and lots of sex too...lool .
     
  10. Cellar_Door Whose Worth's unknown Registered Senior Member

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    I go shopping with male friends all the time. It doesn't necessarily have to be a pretext for something more.
     
  11. tuberculatious Banned Banned

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    did you pay?
     
  12. breeze Registered Member

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    Oh God.
    I`m a girl and if I refer to another girl as a girlfriend does it sounds like I`m a lesbian or not?
     
  13. nirakar ( i ^ i ) Registered Senior Member

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    I only know the USA on this issue. If you are female and refer to another girl as a girlfriend it does not sound like you are a lesbian.

    But if somebody is male in the USA and refers to another boy as boyfriend that does sound gay. WE have different rules for the different genders as to what sounds gay.
     
  14. draqon Banned Banned

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    how many "fallen" are there?
     
  15. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    I just say 'friend'. I say 'best friend' more than 'girlfriend'
     
  16. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    Why not say "my friend amanda" or whoever you are talking about. By using friend it would convey your intentions very easy and mentioning their name would show just who you are refering to.

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  17. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Absolutely not. Communities within the USA differ and not all women use the word "girlfriend," but everyone takes it to mean just "female friend," never "lover," when used by a woman to describe another woman.
     
  18. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

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    Not exactly true. As I explained it in my first post, depends on how people view the speaker. If the person refering to a friend of hers as girlfriend is lesbian, most people would think that the girlfriend is her lover.

    Now if a known straigth woman says" we went to the mall with my girlfriends" everyone would take it that she was shopping with her friends...
     
  19. John99 Banned Banned

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    obviously it is dependent on your geographic location. in u.s a male refers to his partner (female\not married) as girlfriend. in this case partner denotes a romantic link. this is regardless of age, i think. does it sound stupid after a certain age? i would think so.

    otherwise i really don't see a need to specify the gender of a friend. if (bold) the need does arise one can say...as an example: my friend is female.
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2009
  20. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Sorry, I'm showing my age. In my day the closet door was still shut. People in such relationships referred to their significant other as "my roommate." Those who did not want to know the details were able to pretend that they did not.
     
  21. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    yeah, older guys do say 'lady friend' and not girlfriend.
     
  22. grazzhoppa yawwn Valued Senior Member

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    In mandarin, there is a similar situation as American english when a male speaks.

    女朋友 (nǔ péngyou) = girlfriend in the American sense. A male has a sexual/loving relationship with their 女朋友.

    女的朋友
    (nǔ de péngyou) = female friend. Simply a friend that happens to be female.


    The 的 has to be emphasized when talking about a "female friend". 的 is a particle that usually connects nouns and their adjectives when the adjectives are >2 syllables. They break this rule in order to force the distinction between a "girlfriend" and a "female friend." It is required even though the adjective is just the one syllable 女 (female/woman).


    And as in english, the same applies to a female speaking about a "boyfriend" 男朋友 versus a "male friend" 男的朋友.
    I don't know if a female speaker say 女朋友 without implying she's a bi/homosexual.
     
  23. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    actually i got into a really confusing conversation because of the word "partner". Partner in Australia is used to refer to a defacto however the word is still used in the emergency service type fields to refer to your crew (ie in a 2 person crew they are your partner). So anyway i was having a chat to someone and the story i was telling involved both my sexual partner and my proffessional one which left it highly confusing to me telling the story let alone the person i was talking to

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