Better half

Question

Hi  Could you please explain what My better half means. Thanks in advance.

Ahava_yin · Accepted Answer

Hi,
The freedictionary.com explains "better half" as "a person's partner in marriage". Is that what it means in the context?

MountainHiker · Answer

Hi ahave yin,

It need not be a marriage, but rather a serious relationship. Not all couples get married.

Your interpretation is correct.

MountainHiker

Ahava_yin · Answer

Thank you, MH
Yes, your note is comprehensive. I shouldn't have left out those couples. Many thanks for correcting me.

I could learn so much from this forum. Really glad to be one of you.

Salam1101 · Answer

Thanks for the replies.
Actually, I've heard in a TV program that a guy holding his baby and saying ''He is my better half’’. Have I heard it right?
Can we see it in this way too ‘’ She is my better half means she makes me a complete person (spiritually)’’?

Nona the brit · Answer

I've only heard it in the context of adult partners.

You can also say my 'other half'

Guest · Answer

could you tell me what is a half

MrPedantic · Answer

Hello S13

She is my better half means she makes me a complete person (spiritually)

I think that's a correct interpretation. In the Christian marriage ceremony,
'two' are understood to 'become one': 'whom *** hath joined let no man
put asunder'. 'Better half' is probably a jocular reference to this.

Not that it's an entirely Christian concept - in Plato's Symposium, you can find
a curious story, of which this is an extremely simplified summary:

"Originally, people were spherical, with 4 arms, 4 legs, 2 faces, etc. They were
consequently extremely strong. One day, they decided to attack the gods. The
gods of course defeated them, and debated what punishment to inflict. At last
Zeus, the king of the gods, decided to cut all people in half, thereby rendering
them feeble and incapable of attacking the gods again.

Unfortunately, the resultant halves clung to each other, and neglected to eat,
drink, etc. So many died, that Zeus took pity, and further modified the halves,
creating men and women as we now know them, with conveniently interlocking
genitalia; as a result, once they had conveniently interlocked, men and women
stopped clinging to each other and wandered off in search of food, football on
tv, etc. Thus the human race stopped dying and started breeding. And that's why
we spend our lives looking for the other part of our original sphere - i.e. our
'other halves'."

Personally I don't believe a word of it.

MrP

Better half

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