# What is a traditional couple? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 8, 2011, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-traditional-couple/598975 "2011-10-08T05:17:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-traditional-couple/598975/1 "2011-10-08T05:17:21Z")
This is a spin off from my [naked neighbors thead](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=626416). The thing that confuses me is that I thought that any couple who makes the choice to be faithful and loving is traditional. I didn’t know that gender should be involved as long as they were committed and faithful. Your thoughts, please? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-traditional-couple/598975/2 "2011-10-08T05:30:56Z")
Maybe there’s more than one tradition. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-traditional-couple/598975/3 "2011-10-08T05:54:55Z")
Seriously? A traditional couple means a man and a woman. Other combinations are generally called either same-sex couples, or gay couples. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-traditional-couple/598975/4 "2011-10-08T14:55:57Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > This is a spin off from my [naked neighbors thead](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=626416). The thing that confuses me is that I thought that any couple who makes the choice to be faithful and loving is traditional. > > I didn’t know that gender should be involved as long as they were committed and faithful. > > Your thoughts, please? I think you’re confusing the meanings of _traditional_ and _legitimate_. The current judgment (correct, in my opinion) that same-sex couples have as much right to be together as homosexual ones does not change the fact that, in Western history, marriage has been seen as teh union of one man and one woman. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-traditional-couple/598975/5 "2011-10-08T17:02:32Z")
I’ve never heard “traditional” used to describe a couple at all to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-traditional-couple/598975/6 "2011-10-08T17:08:08Z")
One man and one woman in marriage. This is not a moral judgement, it merely answers what is conditional traditional in our culture. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-traditional-couple/598975/7 "2011-10-08T17:45:20Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > This is a spin off from my [naked neighbors thead](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=626416). The thing that confuses me is that I thought that any couple who makes the choice to be faithful and loving is traditional. > > I didn’t know that gender should be involved as long as they were committed and faithful. > > Your thoughts, please? Actually I think being faithful and loving isn’t very traditional, historically speaking, since it is only recently the majority of people married principally for love. At any rate, if someone said that another couple was “traditional” I would assume they meant traditional heterosexual gender roles, ie, husband = wage earner, wife = child bearer/carer. You can’t say something is traditional when until recently it was entirely socially unacceptable. You can say its great, necessary, socially important, or whatever. But you can’t say something is traditional unless there is some “tradition” (ie, social habit developed over a long period of years) that it occurs. Like, the Tradition on Thanksgiving is to have turkey. if someone says “we had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner” it includes turkey. It doesn’t include vegan tempeh stir fry. It’s great that you made it so vegans could join you at Thanksgiving dinner. But it isn’t traditional.