First LadyGuy

Hillary Clinton has officially announced her bid for presidency, which begs the all-important question: what would we call Bill?

We Americans are so backwards that we don't even have a word for a man who is married to the president. So what do we call him? Do we go for parallelism and call him the First Gentleman? That sounds all wrong, especially given Mr. Clinton's history of ungentlemanly scandal. First Husband? Maybe. The consensus among friends at dinner last night seems to be First LadyGuy, but I highly doubt that's indicative of mainstream American linguistic preferences.

One strategy so far seems to be humorously sticking with the title First Lady, complete with funny pictures of Mr. Clinton in pink skirtsuits -- apparently the left is robbing the right of ammunition by making fun of themselves first, a strategy that many of us who survived middle school remember well.

Of course, the serious answer in this case is easy: he's Former President Bill Clinton, and there seems to be a long-standing tradition of still referring to former presidents as Mr. President. [Would that make them Mr. and Mrs. President?] We wouldn't have to invent a new word for "man who is married to the president." At least not yet.