Unmarried folk -what do you call your oh? how do you feel about it?

tealady

How about just saying "My fella/bloke/man"
Or you could call him your bed sharer!

Fire_Fox

If he won't marry you call him the 'bit on the side' or 'current boyfriend' or housemate. He is temporary and can be replaced. :rotfl:

Nottoobadyet

My favorite term for this one is in Hebrew - when I lived in Israel I used to call my ex my "ben-dood", which sort of translates to my beloved part. Much better than the hebrew word for husband (baal) which means "owner"!

When I lived in the UK I would call my man then my "partner", though it did sound a bit old! Americans (like me) use it almost exclusively for same sex partners so it took some getting used to.

Now I live in Uganda, and call my (much more recent) boyfriend my husband, because almost everyone lives outside formal marriage here for many years, and anyone cohabitating (usually with kids but not necessarily) can be called your husband and anything else sounds weird or very casual.

But I agree with everyone that with close colleagues / almost everyone else who knows you as more than an acquaintance, his name is the best way to go.

krlyr

Boyfriend, though I do agree that it makes me feel like a teenager who's giggling away bragging about her boyfriend of 3 days or something :rotfl: It's OH on forums. He's been called my husband a couple of times and I don't bother correcting them, but we have no intention to get married so I need to think of a more grownup term! Partner seems too old/formal (or, like above, same-sex couples - have been on a very US-based forum for quite a few years now so maybe that's what's made me link it to that usage), just makes me think of something my nan would call a fella she met, I need something inbetween!

chiefpossession

before we got married my husband used to introduce me to his work colleagues as his 'live-in lover'!!

lizzie157

Usually no*head if I'm talking to someone we know.:rotfl::rotfl:Otherwise partner am not keen on other half cos I'm a whole and don't need him to make me so. He hates being called partner and calls me his wife but I'm not so would never refer to him as my husband.

hazellc

Live-in lover? :rotfl:

We've been together for six years, living together for five and have a child together, so obviously our relationship is serious and important. I'm happy with boyfriend or partner, but unlike you OP, I have no desire to get married. I imagine that wanting to be able to say husband makes all the other words feel inappropriate.

I only call him my other half if I'm complaining about him!

System

Boyfriend

Its still early days and we're both (well i'm getting old ) still youngish.

FBaby

I like 'partner' because that's what my man is. We are partnered in our relationship and family. I actually find it much more endearing than other half. I guess I don't like to think of him as just a half of myself!!!

I think he refers to me mainly as partner too, but he did get me a 'to my girlfriend' card last Christmas and I wasn't happy about it!!! I had to remind myself that men don't put meaning behind such matters as we do and that he picked the card because it was lovely (indeed, the words were good!!!) not because he was trying to tell me something about his feeling not being as deep as what I thought!

an9i77

Hey guys all these posts may have actually got me somewhere! I was talking to my other half/partner/sh*g b*g / whatever you wanna call it! about this and told him he should be saying fiance. He said 'I've got a four year rule', so i said 'ooh does that mean you'll propose in another year and a a half then?

I'll update you in, er 2014.:)