# What would the media label this hypothetical President's "special" friend **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 6, 2022, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855 "2022-10-06T22:37:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/1 "2022-10-06T22:37:09Z")
I know this question seems oddly specific. It’s just that my brain tends to fall sown rabbit holes and this is one of them. A newly elected President has a wife, but the couple also has a third partner we’ll call Jane. The throuple have been together for over 35 years. And have always been open about their relationship to the public. There is no hierarchy in this relationship. The only reason the three aren’t married to each other is because the law won’t allow it. Now, what label do you think the media will give to Jane? My guess would be: MSM: Something along the lines of “2nd lady”. RWM: 1st Mistress. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2022, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/2 "2022-10-06T23:35:46Z")
With the Prez having been elected with this information out there in the open, I think the media would (generally) be as inoffensive as they know how. “Companion”, “other partner”, terms like that. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/3 "2022-10-07T01:07:28Z")
The 2nd lady is the VP’s wife, so that’s taken. Besides, 1st Lady isn’t just the POTUS’s wife. It’s its own office that just so happens to be occupied [usually](https://www.history.com/news/not-every-first-lady-has-been-married-to-the-president) by the wife. It doesn’t have to be. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/4 "2022-10-07T11:56:59Z")
The Spare Apparent? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/5 "2022-10-07T12:02:17Z")
Ba - da - dum! LOL Thou hast a roguish and clever tongue. 😈 ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/6 "2022-10-07T14:33:25Z")
Yeah, in the universe where this happens as described there will have organically evolved a socially polite way to refer publicly to the parties of such an arrangement and that’s what will be used. I’m sure Miss Manners would have an excellent answer if she lives that long… ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/7 "2022-10-07T15:15:13Z")
Special Advisor to the President for Personal Affairs Informally, the “Boudoir Czar” ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/8 "2022-10-07T15:52:19Z")
Lol. Good one. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/9 "2022-10-07T16:03:41Z")
What is wrong with “partner”? Seems to imply equality and avoids judgemental or sexist implications like who is the wife and who is the mistress. Not sure why you would formally marry one partner, though: seems like that would have some un-egalitarian legal consequences, ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/10 "2022-10-07T16:17:47Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > The 2nd lady is the VP’s wife, so that’s taken. Besides, 1st Lady isn’t just the POTUS’s wife. It’s its own office that just so happens to be occupied [usually](https://www.history.com/news/not-every-first-lady-has-been-married-to-the-president) by the wife. It doesn’t have to be. A sexist office from 200 years ago. If you were married to some politician, would you want it even suggested that you should be some sort of “first lady” or organize events or work in the White House at all? ---
**Author:** ![SlipperyPete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@SlipperyPete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlipperyPete)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/11 "2022-10-07T16:21:53Z")
paramour? consort? ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/12 "2022-10-07T16:58:57Z")
The old French phrase is “maîtresse en titre”. I can’t imagine what the “freedom” equivalent would be. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/13 "2022-10-07T22:28:50Z")
Sister-First-Lady? In any event I think if society had changed to the point where someone in an openly polyamorous relationship could be elected President there would also be options for such relationships to be legally recognized. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/14 "2022-10-08T00:36:17Z")
Sister wife. Besides, when the theocracy takes over, they’ll immediately make polygamy legal. MPLA will be the rallying cry. Stay tuned… ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/15 "2022-10-08T00:39:19Z")
Doesn’t “sister wife” imply some sort of religious affiliation? I don’t think that would track in this particular situation. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/16 "2022-10-08T00:54:38Z")
> **[Favourite](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favourite)** > > A favourite (British English) or favorite (American English) was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In post-classical and early-modern Europe, among other times and places, the term was used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler. It was especially a phenomenon of the 16th and 17th centuries, when government had become too complex for many hereditary rulers with no great interest in or talent for it, and political institutions were still evolving... ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/17 "2022-10-08T01:48:54Z")
Nice of everyone to automatically assume the third member of a throuple “belongs” to the man. Maybe Jane and the first lady are the ones who sleep together and POTUS is the third wheel. Maybe they have a very large bed and always sleep together. Maybe POTUS is gay, the ladies are his beard and he has a very discreet arrangement with his Chief of Staff. Remember what they say about what happens when you assume. Hell, for that matter, why decide the hypothetical POTUS is a man with two partners? What would you call it when a woman POTUS has a husband and another man in their relationship? I would think “partner” would be perfectly appropriate, assuming POTUS is legally married to First Lady. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/18 "2022-10-08T06:52:58Z")
How about “The Executive Privilege”? Or there’s another French phrase “5 à 7”, meaning the gap between leaving work and arriving home for dinner - so perhaps “The Afternoon Delight”…? Or, to cover most variations “The Sleeping Partner” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/19 "2022-10-08T14:13:11Z")
Comare. But pronounced correctly, like Tony Soprano would say it. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2022, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855/20 "2022-10-08T17:48:55Z")
Does this person get their own Secret Service detachment? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-the-media-label-this-hypothetical-presidents-special-friend/972855.md?page=2)