人与人之间的关系越来越复杂。关系复杂的特点之一在于其新颖性。

比如说，英语中父母称女婿为son-in-law, 但是现在却颇有这样的女儿：虽然没有结婚却有与之结婚的‘丈夫’。于是做父母的就为难了－总不能马马虎虎地称之为son-in-law吧。于是英语中出现了新词语以反映这种新关系－friend-in-law:

1.      No, we can’t call him son-in-law. He’s our friend-in-law. – Reader’s Digest1975 p.134

看国外这种关系很早已经有了，中国现在这种情况也渐渐多了

这种子/女的女/男朋友在父母来说，固然是friend-in-law, 但是在美国人口调查局却不是friend-in-law; 这种朋友在人口调查局客观、不带感情的描述中，就成了Partner of the Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters(合用住处的异性伙伴)。

2．How to handle the linguistic problem of what to call the person with whom one’s daughter lives?…The Census Bureau call them “Partner of the Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters:”…

Times, November 27, 1978

此词由9个字组成，似乎长了一点，故出现了略式－Poss LQ:

3. A woman from Dalas took her Poss LQ home for the weekend recently to meet her parents.

Times, November 27, 1978

离了婚另行高攀的人多了，就出现了表达这些人的新词－Rumpies:

1. Love is lovelier – and classier- the second time around for Britains new breed of go-ahead divorcees, the rumpies. – Daily Mail, Sept. 14, 1988

Rumpies 是怎么构成的呢：

2．It stands for Remarried Upwardly Mobile Person… a woman who’s found a second husband in a higher social stratum than her first spouse, and is enjoying the material benefits that go with her improved status. – Daily Mail, Sept. 14, 1988

此外，如无子女的双职工和小康老人英语也由类似的略语

Dinkie，Woopies：

Rumpies are the Intest affluent, ambitions social stereotype to follow in the footsteps of Yuppies (young urban professional), Dinkies (dual income no kids) and Woopies (Well-off older perople)

Daily Mail, Sept. 14, 1988.