I think it's funny how homosexuals refer to their significant others as "partners." They intentionally use a gender-ambiguous term to cast a cloud over their sexual orientation. Yet if someone refers to his or her "partner," you can almost be certain this person is gay.

I've been thinking up a list of reasons why heterosexuals would refer to their significant others as "partner." Here is what I came up with:

• When the couple considers themselves at the status of married, only without the license.
  
• When the one views the other as an object, less than human.
• "Partners in Crime." You know, when they've been struggling through their differences for the whole movie, then the dominant one reaches out a hand and offers equality by calling the other "partner..."
  
• Cowboy friends. It's not a gay thing, it's a cowboy thing. Although arguably... well, let's not get into that.

See, it was a joke. I guess I just expected everyone to have read the most popular work of Annie Proulx.