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Discussion Groups / English Usage / October 2007Boyfriend
What do you informally call a boyfriend who isn't really a boyfriend [lover], just a male friend ? I just listen to a radio broadcast from Egypt, partly translated into Danish. The girls use the word 'boyfriend' even for boys that are just friends, and the term is just translated into Danish 'drengeven', 'dreng + friend' - well, the English word 'dreng' /is/ listed in the OED :-). And of course, English isn't these girls' native language ...  SignaturePer Erik Rønne http://www.RQNNE.dk > What do you informally call a boyfriend who isn't really a boyfriend > [lover], just a male friend ? "Friend" or perhaps "guy friend". Brian SignatureIf televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up. -- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com) Default User filted: >> What do you informally call a boyfriend who isn't really a boyfriend >> [lover], just a male friend ? > >"Friend" or perhaps "guy friend". Or "gay friend"...if he's straight, either he's a boyfriend, would like to *become* a boyfriend, or he gives up on her and is no longer a friend at all.... (I'm confused...is this AUE or "Seventeen"?)...r Signature"He come in the night when one sleep on a bed. With a hand he have the basket and foods." - David Sedaris explains the Easter rabbit > Default User filted: > > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > *become* a boyfriend, or he gives up on her and is no longer a friend at > all.... "A gay friend", the kind of friend that will always make any party a success ? :-). > (I'm confused...is this AUE or "Seventeen"?)...r You seem to be the one in action ... SignaturePer Erik Rønne http://www.RQNNE.dk >What do you informally call a boyfriend who isn't really a boyfriend >[lover], just a male friend ? [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > >And of course, English isn't these girls' native language ... Friend, pal, buddy. SignatureTony Cooper Orlando, FL >> What do you informally call a boyfriend who isn't really >> a boyfriend [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Friend, pal, buddy. I have an old friend (male) who is nearing his 82nd birthday. He (and his late wife) always referred to his pals as "boyfriends." There was no double meaning; his "boyfriends" were simply frieds who were male, just as his wife's "girlfriends" were simply friends who were female. He is Jewish. Would that have anything to do with it? SignatureMaria > I have an old friend (male) who is nearing his 82nd > birthday. He (and his late wife) always referred to his > pals > as "boyfriends." There was no double meaning; his > "boyfriends" were simply frieds friends, of course. (Argghh.) > ....who were male, just as his > wife's "girlfriends" were simply friends who were female. > > He is Jewish. Would that have anything to do with it? SignatureMaria > >> What do you informally call a boyfriend who isn't really > >> a boyfriend [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > He is Jewish. Would that have anything to do with it? Maybe. My great-aunt Selma (born c. 1900) occasionally forgot herself and referred to my brother's and my male friends as our boyfriends. -- Jerry Friedman jerry friedman wrote: >>>> What do you informally call a boyfriend who isn't >>>> really [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > and referred to my brother's and my male friends as our > boyfriends. It also may be an age thing based more on location than anything else. I can't recall my grandmother (born 1899) using "boyfriend" in the way I mentioned, but that doesn't mean she didn't. SignatureMaria The message <1i6mw14.sragwmlir985N%per@RQNNE.invalid> from per@RQNNE.invalid (Per_Rønne contains these words: > What do you informally call a boyfriend who isn't really a boyfriend > [lover], just a male friend ? A waiter. Janet. Janet Baraclough <janet.and.john@zetnet.co.uk> het geskryf: > The message <1i6mw14.sragwmlir985N%per@RQNNE.invalid> > from per@RQNNE.invalid (Per_Rønne contains these words: [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > A waiter. As in "He also serves"? > What do you informally call a boyfriend who isn't really a boyfriend > [lover], just a male friend ? English has changed. Boy friend (two words) used to be how English identified what Southern belles called beaux, i.e. suitors (aspirants to become lovers or husbands.) The two words were combined in boyfriend to mean the successful lover as distinct from the suitor. This easily becomes confusing . . . > I just listen to a radio broadcast from Egypt, partly translated into > Danish. The girls use the word 'boyfriend' even for boys that are just > friends, and the term is just translated into Danish 'drengeven', 'dreng > + friend' - well, the English word 'dreng' /is/ listed in the OED :-). These Egyptian girls may have been talking about boy friends rather than boyfriends. In Islamic societies boy friends may be frowned upon but boyfriends are an assault on the woman's family's honour. SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) On Oct 27, 12:00�pm, "Don Phillipson" <d.phillipsonSPAMBL...@ncf.ca> wrote: > "Per R�nne" <p...@RQNNE.invalid> wrote in message > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > words were combined in boyfriend to mean the successful > lover as distinct from the suitor. This easily becomes confusing . . . So that's the etymology of "boyfriend"? It makes sense, especially since the Southerners don't pronounce the final sound in "boy", so it sounds more like "beau". Thanks for the enlightenment. ... > So that's the etymology of "boyfriend"? > It makes sense, especially since the Southerners don't pronounce the > final sound in "boy", so it sounds more like "beau". What? -Really-? What is the monophthongizing rule? I'm -> ahm, but I don't hear boy -> boh or make -> mehk or leek -> lick or cow -> cae or toe -> toh. (As usual pick your 'southern AmE' dialect) Mitch > ... >> So that's the etymology of "boyfriend"? [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > toe -> toh. (As > usual pick your 'southern AmE' dialect) I'm with you. What one hears, southern-accent wise, depends on which part of the South you're in. (And "which part" doesn't mean "which state"; there are smaller units.) SignatureMaria |
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