I met my boyfriend yesterday

[keannu]

If you are a guy and call your guy friend "my boyfriend" while talking to others like "I met my boyfriend yesterday", wouldn't you sound a gay? Does it ever happen or is it quite awkward?

 

[bhaisahab]

If you are a guy and call your guy friend "my boyfriend" while talking to others like "I met my boyfriend yesterday", wouldn't you sound a gay? Does it ever happen or is it quite awkward?

It would only work if you are both gay.

 

[meskete]

Well, yes, if you say "my boyfriend", it's your only one.:lol:
I prefer to say "a friend of mine", no matter if it's a man or a woman.

 

[Barb_D]

It's a strange double-standard, but a female can say "I had lunch with one of my girlfriends" or even "I went shopping with my girlfriend" and there is no assumption that she means a romantic partner. A male cannot do this.

 

[Tullia]

It's a strange double-standard, but a female can say "I had lunch with one of my girlfriends" or even "I went shopping with my girlfriend" and there is no assumption that she means a romantic partner. A male cannot do this.

I think that's more acceptable to an AmE ear than my BrE one. I do hear "girlfriends" used but mostly on American TV shows I think.

 

[SoothingDave]

I think that's more acceptable to an AmE ear than my BrE one. I do hear "girlfriends" used but mostly on American TV shows I think.

What would females in Britain say? Their mates?

 

[Tullia]

What would females in Britain say? Their mates?

"Mates" sounds more masculine. If we're talking about a group, we might just say "out with the girls", but there are probably regional variations of course.

 

[emsr2d2]

What would females in Britain say? Their mates?

We don't really have a way of differentiating between the genders when talking about mere friends.

I met a friend for lunch yesterday.
Oooooh, really? Male or female?
Oh, one of the girls. It was Jane.

I met a friend for lunch yesterday.
Really? Who?
John.

We are starting to hear "girlfriend" used to refer to a female friend but I think the vast majority of Brits would still assume that a female referring to her "girlfriend" would be a lesbian and therefore referring to her female romantic partner. If she said "I met a girlfriend for lunch yesterday" we would be less likely to assume she was a lesbian but the word would still sound slightly unnatural.

With the usual double standards that exist in language, I don't think either AmE or BrE allows for a male to say "my/a boyfriend" without a clear suggestion that he is gay and therefore referring to a male romantic partner.

 

[keannu]

I'm really sorry, by the way, this is quite out of the subject, but could you tell me what you meant by "would" in "What would females in Britain say?"? Was it presumption or conditional or curiousity?
If it's a conditional, then it would mean "If the people who heard it were females in Britain, what would they say?"

 

[SoothingDave]

Would | Define Would at Dictionary.com

I think this definition describes it best:

used as an auxiliary to describe a past action as being accustomed or habitual: