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I Hate "The Wife"

(31 Posts)
Rufus2 Thu 06-Sep-18 11:27:45

An expression that irritates is often used at my local lawn bowls club, "the wife", as if she's an inanimate object; much as I would refer to "the lawn-mower", "the car".
Vera would have killed me if ever she heard that, with it's connotations of "housewife"etc.
What's wrong with the given name? Much friendlier; and safer! grin

glammanana Thu 06-Sep-18 11:44:51

Rufus2 I totally agree,I am not my hubby's possession and he is so aware of how he refers to me if we ever meet up with pals of his I do not know.
On a more endeared introduction I have been called "she who should be obeyed" or "my better half" both of which I find acceptable (depending on my mood) grin

boheminan Thu 06-Sep-18 11:47:35

Rufus - the word 'hubby' irritates me to hell and apparently there's a lot of 'em lurking aroundhmm

glammanana Thu 06-Sep-18 11:49:35

boheminan Woops grin

Teetime Thu 06-Sep-18 14:16:27

My husband (also a bowler) refers to me by my name or as my darling wife - aint that nice?

PamelaJ1 Thu 06-Sep-18 14:40:54

My husband referred to me as- the wife. He only did it once!

kittylester Thu 06-Sep-18 14:44:32

The argument for using 'the' instead of 'my' is that we don't belong to our husbands.

I would hate it though and DH refers to me as 'my wife Kitty'.

I hate 'hubby' too. Sorry, glam. I don't know why I don't like it.

Mapleleaf Thu 06-Sep-18 14:46:18

I agree with you, Rufus2. Makes us ladies sound like a possession, doesn't it? If we referred to our husbands as "the husband", I wonder how they would like it? ?

paddyann Thu 06-Sep-18 15:04:34

I hate hubby too ,thought I would be the only one .My OH would never call me the wife ,at least not within my hearing distance ,its a horrible expression.

boheminan Thu 06-Sep-18 16:53:44

that wasn't a dig at you glammanana - posts crossedsmile

Hellosunshine Thu 06-Sep-18 17:33:00

I would just like a hubby! Only joking.
In this neck of the woods some men refer to their wives as "wor lass". Not usually in hearing distance of their wives though!

callgirl1 Thu 06-Sep-18 17:51:47

I didn`t use to mind "my wife", but hate hearing the wife.

TerriBull Thu 06-Sep-18 18:11:55

I think most women hate it, it's insulting, the term might as well be referring to an inanimate object rather than a person.

Marthjolly1 Thu 06-Sep-18 18:19:09

Absolutely hate it. The wife, the ironing board, the hoover, the dish washer etc. 'The wife' has no personality as she is an object

GrandmaMoira Thu 06-Sep-18 19:03:04

My brother's wife is "the boss". I think it's okay saying "the" in this case.

GillT57 Thu 06-Sep-18 19:08:41

Hate 'the wife' and 'hubby'. Also dislike silly expression like 'better half'. Why not just use their name?

bikergran Thu 06-Sep-18 19:51:27

One thing that really really irritates me when I am at work at the checkout serving.!!

We have to ask "would you like a bag"?

answer from the males !!! no I have one here !!!

and points to the wife/partner etc grrrrrrrrrrr........!

Jalima1108 Thu 06-Sep-18 20:03:34

The wife!! Her indoors!! grrr

I do dislike the word 'hubby', a friend always asks 'and how's hubby?'

glammanana Thu 06-Sep-18 20:40:44

I just wonder if "hubby" is a northern endearment as it is used quite often here.

HootyMcOwlface Thu 06-Sep-18 20:49:41

‘The wife’ doesn’t irritate me half as much as ‘hubby’, that is like nails down a blackboard!

Diana54 Thu 06-Sep-18 21:07:22

After correcting my DH a few times when he was overheard he did call me Diana, it's all part of the married men's culture to say "her indoors or the wife" but if he had ever called me "the bag" there would have been a very swift and painfull response, in company or not.
I don't see the problem in " how's hubby" it's just short for "how is your husband" - because she can't remember his name.

NanKate Thu 06-Sep-18 21:34:24

I used to love it when Terry Wogan referred to his wife as the present Mrs Wogan.

Wheniwasyourage Thu 06-Sep-18 22:20:45

Slightly off topic, did anyone else notice that when the BBC were reporting the sad death of the British couple in Egypt recently, they kept referring to "John Cooper and his wife Susan"? Other media - channel 4 news for example - said "John and Susan Cooper", which I thought was much more respectful.

I hate "hubby" too. It sounds to me as very belittling of the man involved.

lemongrove Thu 06-Sep-18 22:40:53

NanKate love that one.grin

I hate 'the wife' too and am not keen on 'hubby' …. not sure why, it's like 'kiddies' another pet hate of mine.grin

Rufus2 Fri 07-Sep-18 08:20:47

referred to our husbands as "the husband", I wonder how they would like it?
Mapleleaf: I certainly wouldn't! I'd immediately begin to worry as to how many others has she got, tucked away somewhere? shock
Mind you, if she said "chubby hubby", I might feel more confident she was referring only to me, but then it would come back to trust. grin