Line #9 Main/NotThatKindOfPartner


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7	->'''Acacia Byrd''': We're partners! We share a response centre! Mind out of the gutter!\
8	'''Luxury''': Ooooh, partners! I getcha!
9	-->-- ''WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum'', [[https://plotprotectors.neocities.org/TOS/mission04 "Protector of the Ringbearer"]]
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11	Since "domestic partner" is a common way to refer to a person you live with and have a romantic relationship with (carnal benefits optional), police officers, lawyers, and other people who work with colleagues also get to utter the above StockPhrase when introducing their professional partners, NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat optional.
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13	This trope is OlderThanTheyThink because "partner" has always had that double meaning, and it's a handy way to drop in some ShipTease or HoYay, but expect to see this trope pop up more and more in lieu of (or in conjunction with) SheIsNotMyGirlfriend.
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15	Compare and will likely overlap with StrictlyProfessionalRelationship.
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17	----
18	!!Examples:
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20	[[foldercontrol]]
21
22	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
23	* In ''Manga/CaseClosed'' Shuichi Akai refers to Gin as "the one that got away" (even going so far as calling Gin his ''koibito'', i.e., "[[DatingCatwoman lover]]") so anyone who overheard him talking would think "ex-girlfriend who initiated the breakup" rather than "criminal that slipped through his fingers"; Kaito, when asked about his relationship with Conan/Shinichi by the Suspect of the Week, [[StrangeMindsThinkAlike uses the identical metaphor]], since he both anticipates that his WorthyOpponent would always show up to thwart whatever he's doing but also dreads the interference.
24	* There has been some confusion on the term "partner" in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' (between the festival and summer arcs).
25	* Something similar in the English dub of ''Anime/SamuraiSeven''. Kambei calls his war buddy his [[HoYay "old wife"]], and this is translated as having him refer to the guy as his "mate". So, in English as in Japanese, the other characters are surprised when they meet the guy and find out he isn't a (female) love interest.
26	[[/folder]]
27
28	[[folder:Fan Works]]
29	* In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' [[AlternateUniverseFic AU]] ''Fanfic/AGunToLovesHead'' L and Light are partners but [[spoiler:until Mello forces the issue]] they were completely [[PlatonicLifePartners platonic]].
30	* Hol Horse says this word for word in ''Fanfic/IronTouch'' after Sara misinterprets him calling Sting his "partner" as his boyfriend or fiancé rather than coworker.
31	* In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' [[AlternateUniverseFic AU]] ''Fanfic/RagnarokSkeptikitten'', Matsuda is Light's partner at the NPA. [[JerkAss Mello]] asks if he's his partner in every sense of the word.
32	[[/folder]]
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34	[[folder:Film]]
35	* Inverted in ''Film/AmericanBeauty'': when welcoming Colonel Fitts to the neighborhood, Jim Olmeyer introduces Jim Berkeley as "my partner". Colonel Fitts asks them to cut to the chase and proceed with the sales pitch, as he presumes they're business partners, and reacts with disgust when he realizes they mean ''romantic'' partner.
36	[[/folder]]
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38	[[folder:Literature]]
39	* ''Literature/CutAndRun'': Though they do become an {{Official Couple}} later, FBI Special Agents Zane Garrett and Ty Grady have gotten this. After a car accident, an EMT tending to Ty asks Zane if they're partners. He answers yes, not thinking anything of it. It's only when Zane specifically mentions working on a case that she realizes they meant completely different things.
40	* Very common in ''Literature/TheHollows'' books between Ivy and Rachel; compounded by the fact that with Rachel under Ivy's protection, other vampires assume Ivy must be getting blood and/or sex in return.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Live Action Television]]
44	* ''Series/{{Bones}}'': Often but not always averted. Everyone seems to think Booth and Brennan are a couple but they always say "we're not a couple, [he/she]'s my partner," and the corrected almost always knows what they mean.
45	* In the pilot of ''Series/CommonLaw'', Wes and Travis realize in the middle of their therapy session that the rest of the group thinks that Wes and Travis are domestic partners as opposed to police partners. The fact that it was a couples' therapy group probably had something to do with that assumption.
46	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Doctor is always having to clarify that a "companion" is not sexual (actually, the term is an AscendedMeme, being used to refer to those travelling with the Doctor by fans long before the Doctor started using it.)
47	* In ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' episode "Mistaken Identity", Will and Carlton are falsely arrested in connection to a rash of carjackings in the area. When the latest victim comes to the jail to see about his car, he tells the sergeant in charge that the boys weren't responsible and that they're "[his] partner's son and nephew". Before the [[MistakenForGay obvious assumption]] is made, Uncle Phil clarifies that the man is his ''legal'' partner and then berates the cops for ignoring protocol, demanding that they release Will and Carlton immediately.
48	* ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': When Bobby Goren's brother, Frank, first met Eames, he got the wrong idea, which he then passed along to their mother. Frank eventually recognized the misunderstanding (though he continued to doubt that the relationship was strictly platonic), but their mother (terminally ill in addition to her long-term schizophrenia) never quite figured it out.
49	%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* Mike and Carl in ''Series/MikeAndMolly''.
50	* Inverted in an episode of ''Series/{{Psych}}'' when a man introduced his "partner." Career policeman Lassiter simply did not comprehend that he meant lover and assumed business partner or partner-in-crime.
51	* ''Series/{{Reba}}'': Van auctions a day of working out with him in a silent auction and the winner of the auction was an effeminate man who wants to understand football better because his "partner" always talks about it. Turns out [[CampStraight he's straight]] and he was talking about his business partner.
52	* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': JD refers to his {{Heterosexual Life Partner}} Turk as his "partner" (since they're more or less an internal medicine/surgeon team), then hurriedly clarifies "not that type of partner". Later, it's revealed that his patient had the right idea to start with and [[MistakenForGay got the wrong idea]] from the correction.
53	* ''Series/TheXFiles'': Mulder and Scully run into this. The fact that they're closer than most married couples likely doesn't help the situation.
54	[[/folder]]
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56	[[folder:Webcomic]]
57	* Parodied in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', with Mulder and Scully expies Wolf and Cranium, who replace WillTheyOrWontThey with They Totally Are. Everyone understands what Cranium means when she calls Wolf her partner, but only because she's ''correcting'' herself from saying "boyfriend".
58	[[/folder]]
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60	[[folder:Web Original]]
61	* In ''Literature/{{CAPOW}}'', the term "partner" gets lobbed about quite a bit to ShipTease eventual OfficialCouple (and professional partners) Talon and Samui.
62	* [[https://pompadorkk.tumblr.com/post/84599149272/thaxted-cerberusdad-i-like-the-word-partners This]] Website/{{Tumblr}} post, featuring ''Film/HotFuzz''.
63	-->'''OP:''' i like the word partners because [[LampshadeHanging no one can tell if you’re dating or if you’re in a buddy cop movie]]\
64	'''reblogger:''' [adds a picture of Nick and Danny eating ice cream together in their cop car]
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Western Animation]]
68	* Inverted in the ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' episode "My Own Private Rodeo". Dale's father admits to him that he's gay, and that his 'special friend' Juan Pedro is actually his partner. But, [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Dale being Dale]], interprets this as his father actually being a government agent partnered with Juan while undercover at the gay rodeo, and [[ConspiracyTheorist freaks out]]. Dale realizes his misunderstanding by the end of the episode, and wholeheartedly accepts his father once he does. [[EntertaininglyWrong After all, John Redcorn's gay, and Dale's been friends with him for years!]]
69	* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' ''Return to Spider-Skull Island'' begins with Dr. Venture admitted to a hospital emergency ward. Brock goes to follow him in but is stopped by a doctor.
70	-->'''Doctor''': Sorry, sir, medical personnel only beyond this point.\
71	'''Brock''': I'm staying with him; I go where he goes.\
72	'''Doctor''': Ohh! You must be his ''partner'', then!\
73	'''Brock''': Not really, it's more like I work for him--''wait'' a minute, ''NO!''
74	[[/folder]]

Context Main / NotThatKindOfPartner