Then you get their reasoning perfectly! I use "SO" online, but we're financially independent cohabitating partners because our state doesn't recognize domestic

Then you get their reasoning perfectly! I use "SO" online, but we're financially independent cohabitating partners because our state doesn't recognize domestic partnerships. If I say "fiance" then I have to answer when we're getting married (we aren't), and if I say "girlfriend" or "roommate", it doesn't convey that we are each other's beneficiaries, emergency contacts, requests for power of attorney, etc, so I just use her name and leave out the relationship in conversations altogether. I was surprised to discover how common this was after I tried to explain and found out many of the couples we knew and worked with who are "married" aren't.