Why do peole refer to former boyfriends and girl friends as their Exes?

Single has come to mean unattached. It's the simple result of the evolution of the English language considering how long people wait nowadays between getting to know each other and getting married. "Exes" comes from the prefix "ex," which means former. This isn't a recent development; the word developed in the 1820s.

I couldn't help but laugh at this question. And I can't explain it better than everyone already has. Single - alone, unattached, available. Ex - former. Couldn't be any plainer.

Seriously, if you have a boy/girlfriend and someone asks if you're single, you're not going to say "no". Unless, of course, you're a liar and want to lead people on.

And if they were using "ex" as if they had been divorced, I'm pretty sure they would be saying "ex-husband/wife". No one is going to mistake "ex-boyfriend" to mean someone they used to be married to.

Really. Just...wow.

A former boyfriend or girlfriend would be an "ex-boyfriend" or "ex-girlfriend" a.k..a. an "ex" for short. Maybe English is not your native language, is that why you have difficulty understanding this?

And if you say you're single, it means you're available to date a variety of different people. Therefore it should not surprise you that people in a committed relationship -- whether they're officially married or not -- don't consider themselves to be "single", they consider themselves to be part of a couple -- especially if they're living together. Clearly you've never been in a committed relationship or you would understand the feelings involved.

They refer to them as their ex because it was a past relationship. I don't agree with your opinion, that if your not married and your boyfriend and girlfriend you are single. Single means 1. When your in a boyfriend and girlfriend relationship there are 2 of you. So technically you are not single.

Ex= no longer with. Without.

So, you can have an ex husband/wife if you were married. You can have an ex boyfriend/girlfriend if you were not married but in a relationship with someone.

okay ex as in reference to excommunicated,(not speaking/no longer together) but no one says that anymore..

as for the single thing.. well, if a person has a companion or are married then they are not single..

back in Biblical days they did not even have marriage ceremonies, a man simply took a wife/companion..

it was not until much later that the legality of a ceremony and paperwork came into pthat's

thats why alot of people even now do not get legally married, they just consider themselves married in the eyes of God..

so, I think you have it a little misunderstood...

ex - correlates to "former"... "X" - still has the "indication" of what was - isn't anymore..In a way, and I'm not 100% convinced it "harks" back to what was "on the cross" is no longer there / formerly...

Rachelle In High Heels

i will bring this up to president obama.

this appears to be a hetero issue that needs to be corrected.