‘Your BETTER Half’

‘Where is your BETTER half?’

I never liked the expression ‘where is your better half’ when someone asks about my spouse or even when the comment is used in reference to another couple. I know that the phrase is usually used in jest but it grates on me nevertheless.  It feels like a put down maybe because I have insecurities like most people do.  What if I said to someone; ‘where is your better half’ while referring to their brother or sister or their business partner? Would they be amused? More likely they would feel hurt and in some cases might even hate me for saying it. 

Yes, this phrase ‘where is your better half,’ is used most often in the marriage context. It probably springs from the common but ‘true’ belief that a married couple consists of two halves unified into one, as the bible says. Look in Ephesians 6:31 where it says: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery…” Therefore, why would anyone ask a spouse, ‘where is your better half’ when in marriage there are no two halves but a unified whole? Wouldn't you be suggesting that there is inequality or dysfunction in someone's marriage? At the very least you could be insulting the spouse you said this to. People shouldn't be so sensitive, right? Well unfortunately people are as sensitive as you are. Instead of making that unfortunate comment, it would be much kinder to simply ask where is or how is so-and-so doing and to just leave it at that.