Is "partner" HN's "one word fits all?"

With a whopping ~200 google hits, "pelvic affiliate" doesn't seem to have become any more popular since I first heard it last century.

A lot of people don't bring their personal life into things that aren't shared with their partner. So in that sense, it is a way of mentioning their existence and connection to a story without forcing them to participate in that story. Privacy matters.

My partner doesn't care whatsoever about technology, but sometimes has been part of the story that still affords them being anonymous, as "part of the crowd." Literally for all the attention my partner wants on tech things, there is no reason to specify whether we are talking about a spouse or business partner or any other kind of partner - it is someone anonymous who is equally yoked in some manner with the person referring to them, and that manner does not affect the story being told.

Personally, I use spouse or wife since "partner" could be a business partner.

But a lot of people are probably using it to refer to someone that in the 1970's would have been referred to as "my old lady" or "my old man".

It's one way that people try to be vague for privacy reasons. But feel free to use a more specific term if you're comfortable releasing that bit of information.