It is interesting that there's no male equivalent handy. I can't imagine it's really that rare or a new phenomenon. We have jokes about the milkman and all that even though we don't have milkmen anymore.
Paramour -- I don't think that necessarily indicates an extramarital affair .
Still, the idea of getting rid of a perfectly good word in a way that requires extra exposition later on is almost antithetical to newspaper-style writing. It's supposed to be tight and get right to the point. Maybe since they're all money-pit propaganda machines these days the news-to-ad-space ratio doesn't matter as much.
No male equivalent other than paramour, you mean? Nothing directly to "mistress."
Also, this is spot on:
Maybe since they're all money-pit propaganda machines these days the news-to-ad-space ratio doesn't matter as much.
Paramour implies an extramarital affair, but does it mean that explicitly? With mistress there is hardly any room for debate. Paramour might get closer to the meaning, but probably if I were writing the newspaper article I'd put a clarification later that the other person is married.
Anyway, just the English language. Waddaya gonna do?
I'm going to continue to mock the news outlets, even though it's akin to spitting on a forest fire.
Illicit relationship I believe. I'd say easily deduced based on context.
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