What is "the wife" ?

[movie zombie]

i don't share him so its "my" NOT "the" husband.........

[Subotai]

Man rule #43: Never call the wife "The Wife" in front of the wife!

Man rule #72: Never call the wife "my old lady" in front of her or her friends.

[rojocorsa]

Can someone explain to me why guys refer to their SO as "the wife"?

Why not "Sandy", "Sandy, my wife", "BW", "my wife"?

What is a "THE wife". Do they have the only wife in existence?

I ask because I've never heard a woman say "THE husband".




(for those that don't know, HH is for handsome hubbie, BW is for beautiful wife).

As a non-native English speaker, the term stuck out to me as well because it's a little strange...

Anyway, my inference is that this is just a way for men to refer to their wives. I bet most don't give it much thought really.



I think that it's like if a lot of people refer to something or someone in a certain way, it sticks. I don't assume there is any put-down intended.

[billofrights]

As far as I am concerned yes, she is the ONLY Wife in existence for me hence the singular reference.
Also why do people refer to their employer as 'the boss' instead of 'my boss'?
Same thing, it's just a manner of speaking.


My Wife uses this term all the time when referring to me to friends.

I think that for a lot of men, "the wife" is approximately equivalent to "the boss," hence the carryover of "the" instead of "my."

i.e., "Let me check with the wife first..."

[Bugguts]

Well what about married people who refer to each other as "Mother" or "Father"? "We'll have to see what Mother says". Or all the way back to Gone With the Wind... "We'll have to see what Mrs. O'hara says" in speaking about his wife.

[drdarrin@sbcglobal.net]

ah, we have a romantic!
many could learn from you, drdarrin!

the wife = the old ball and chain.....
sounds much the same to my ear.

A Romantic... Only to my bride!

[BonnieB]

Bugs, you changed your Avatar! I didn't recognize you!


LOL madly. My mother referred to my father as "Daddy", even to his face. I remember blowing up at about 9 years old, saying " He's MY daddy, Mum, not yours!"

And I just remembered my mother flinching when I referred to my boyfriend-du-jour as "my lover". And the 'du-jour' thing was much more belittling than the lover part....

I was engaged once to a man who was a career Army man. And I addressed him as "Major", but only in bed....

Such a hot topic, how we address and refer to our loved ones.

[Bugguts]

LOL! Gotta keep you on your toes Bonnie!!

We are boring. We are Bill and Darlene. Except in bed, we are Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory which is odd since I am a racist....

[baddos]

The term "the wife" shouldn't really bother anyone. Your wife is your life long partner and best friend. If you're in an unhappy marriage or something and referring to her as "the wife" then maybe there is something to it.

[winnre]

I think "the wife" is better than being called "the ol' lady."

[Librarian]

There are some oddly-socialized women who object to the 'possessive' aspect of the word 'my'. They are often identifiable by their peculiar spellings of common words in written communications, e.g 'herstory', 'womyn'.

That said, I never refer to my wife as 'the wife'.

[kaligaran]

I call my significant other 'the other half'.

Does that count?

[billofrights]

Taking a page from Jurassic Park, I will just refer to my Gf as "the next future ex Mrs billofrights." Calling her "Number 4" just doesn't have the same romantic undertones

[RookieShooter]

"The Wife" is one step nicer than the "The *******".

[Laythor]

I'm not married so I refer to my girlfriend as "the chick"