In current PPC1 English, the words ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ have been banned and replaced by the single word ‘partner’. I would like to be able to mock this in loud derisive tones as being part of the modern corruption of language. Sadly, the facts get in the way.
It turns out that partner was first used for a spouse back in the 18th century. In 1749, the novelist Tobias Smollett wrote, “What means the gentle partner of my heart?”, referring to his wife (and providing along the way evidence for just how long men have failed to understand their wives!) In 1816, the poet Robert Southey wrote, “I … took the partner of my life with me”. And in 1879, Dean Farrar, in a book on the Apostle Paul, wrote, “The believing wife or husband might win to the faith the unbelieving partner”.
However, it is also true that this usage seems to have died out by the beginning of the 20th century—only to be revived towards century’s end for what look like dubious reasons. As marriage declined and couples took to living with each other without a formal commitment (I think the technical term is ‘shacked up’), they needed a name for the person they lived with.
Words such as ‘boyfriend’ and ‘girlfriend’ seemed foolish for adults; ‘de facto’, too blunt; and ‘this is the woman I sleep with’ a touch insensitive. And so this older use of partner was revived. The result is that it now carries with it moral and cultural baggage. To use ‘partner’ for your spouse is to express (intentionally or unintentionally) approval of the notion that it is the partnership that matters, not the God-ordained institution of marriage.
Christians should, in consequence, consciously avoid partner in such contexts, and loudly and clearly pronounce such words as ‘wife’ or ‘husband’ as one small step towards making the Christian position clear. One final thought: where does this modern usage leave a firm of solicitors or accountants? Will they have to stop referring to each other as partners so that we understand their relationship to be strictly business?
1 Pathetically Politically Correct.
