girlfriends
6/12/04 20:28![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
schmericaI once spent, like, several months thinking one of my cousins across the country was in a romantic relationship with her best friend. The several month mark was when it dawned on me that my grandmother uses the word "girlfriend" in a totally different context than I do. (Plus, you know, that she wouldn't mention lesbianism all that casually.)
My parents both do this, too, I think; I think I remember them describing![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sprkid as "one of Erica's girlfriends" when we were both much younger, and not in any way intending it in the way it comes out sounding to me. I associate the usage with them, with their friends, aunts and uncles and people of my grandparents' generation.
It would never occur to me to use the phrase "girlfriends" to describe platonic bonds between women or girls, anymore than I would use "boyfriends" for the equivalent with males. It's not so much a shift between generations than a shift in culture in general, I think; the age-link is just a matter of where that shift in culture is.
This procastination was brought to you by one sentence in my rough draft.
My parents both do this, too, I think; I think I remember them describing
sprkid as "one of Erica's girlfriends" when we were both much younger, and not in any way intending it in the way it comes out sounding to me. I associate the usage with them, with their friends, aunts and uncles and people of my grandparents' generation.It would never occur to me to use the phrase "girlfriends" to describe platonic bonds between women or girls, anymore than I would use "boyfriends" for the equivalent with males. It's not so much a shift between generations than a shift in culture in general, I think; the age-link is just a matter of where that shift in culture is.
This procastination was brought to you by one sentence in my rough draft.
