A term for a mono who is OK with his/her partner being poly.

CuriousRon

New member
I like inventing new words and I have an idea for one. The word is "amphitritism" (adjective "amphitritic")

In Greek mythology, both Zeus and Poseidon liked to have affairs with mortal women but unlike Hera who who was extremely jealous and gave weapons grade grief to Zeus's mortal lovers and their offspring, (Hercules being the best known example) Poseidon's wife Amphitrite had no such hangups and tolerated her husband's extramarital affairs but as far as I know she had no other lovers herself.

Therefore, someone who is monogamous but tolerates or even approves of their partner having other relationships and has no desire for additional partners themselves can be said to be "amphitritic".
 
Love the etymology!
 
Neat. :)

I prefer "monoamorous, but not necessarily monogamous."

The person only wants one sweetie for themselves, but is ok participating in either a monogamous shape or a poly shape relationship of some kind.

Galagirl
 
Neat. :)

I prefer "monoamorous, but not necessarily monogamous."

The person only wants one sweetie for themselves, but is ok participating in either a monogamous shape or a poly shape relationship of some kind.

Galagirl


I would go with "monogamous (or -amorous) but poly-friendly" as some folks are already using it. I imagine a corollary would be "vanilla but kink-friendly"...
 
Neat. :)

I prefer "monoamorous, but not necessarily monogamous."

The person only wants one sweetie for themselves, but is ok participating in either a monogamous shape or a poly shape relationship of some kind.

Galagirl

I wouldn't consider myself not monogamous, regardless of the overall relationship type. I consider *my* end of my relationship with Chops to be mono, regardless of how many partners *he* has.

I dunno. As a mono person in a relationship with a poly person, I prefer those particular words, or some variety thereof. I don't feel the need for a term for myself, since the only places I use poly-related terms are poly-related forums or get-togethers, anyway (and if I tell people I'm mono, but my partner isn't, they get it pretty quickly).

Telling my mono friends? They wouldn't understand such a term, not being privy to the lingo (heck, there are already enough misconceptions with the word "poly"!), and I'd just have to explain anyway.

Poly-friendly is fine, but it seems to communicate a more overall openness to poly relationships, whereas mine is pretty dependent on circumstances - I don't think I'd be open to meeting/dating poly people on the whole (sorry, folks), but in this case, for this person, I'm happy to work with it.

That said, the original etymology is pretty good, regardless of whether or not I'd actually use the word to describe myself. :)
 
So in theory ...

  • The abstract noun, "poly-tolerant monogamy" = "amphitritism."
  • The adjective, "mono but poly-tolerant" = "amphitritic."
  • The concrete noun, "a poly-tolerant monogamist" = "an amphitritist."
I extrapolated a bit. :)
 
It is cool, but as it wasn't necessarily one of her attributes, more a side story, I don't think she would exactly embody the concept enough for it to catch on.

True but it's more what she didn't do then what she did. She didn't go around turning Poseidon's lovers into cows and trying to kill their children with snakes like Hera did.
 
That's true. Don't get me wrong, if I ever see it used elsewhere I'll squeee, then give out cigars in your name to everyone within arms reach as you will be the proud parent of a new word. I'm not humbugging it either, just not sure the the target market will identify with it. It is charming though. :)
 
I'm not humbugging it either, just not sure the the target market will identify with it. It is charming though. :)

Not speaking for ALL mono folks in this circumstance, but for me - nope. If this became part of the lexicon, I'd grumble more than squee... I don't need a new word for myself (and if I may be a bit grumbly now, I don't need someone else to make it up for me).

But yes, I still like the etymology.
 
Just got an email from mount Olympus.

Dear Curious Ron

Just because I didn't turn hubby's mistresses into cows doesn't mean I condoned his behavior. It just means I recognized that it wasn't their fault that hubby couldn't keep it in his toga. Trust me Ron, he got his when he got home.

Love always

Amphitrite
 
It is weird, even for me, that my boyfriend is monogamous. Not only does he not want another partner, but I am also the first person he has ever been in love with. So really he is a grey -aromantic monogamous polyfriendly person. Or, just a guy who is my guy, or one of the guys.
 
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