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Alice is throwing a party. She invites Bob to come to the party, and says he may bring another person with him. Bob arrives at the party accompanied by Carol. We could say Carol is Bob's guest.

What's the reverse of this relationship? Bob is Carol's _______.

Usually host is the reverse of guest, but that doesn't seem to fit here. As Alice is throwing the party, Carol's host would seem to refer to Alice, not Bob.

Escort could work but sounds overly formal, and moreover it seems to me that it carries connotations about Bob's relationship to Carol.

If possible, the term should:

  • be gender-neutral (so that it also works if Doris arrives accompanied by Edward, or Frances arrives accompanied by Glinda)

  • not carry connotations about any relationship between Bob and Carol (e.g. it should not imply that they are friends, spouses, in a romantic relationship, etc.)

  • make it clear that Bob, not Carol, is the person originally invited by Alice.

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    "Escort" only carries connotations because of its use as a euphemism for "prostitute".
    – Hot Licks
    Mar 12, 2015 at 22:07
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    Perhaps companion. But, they are both companions. There is inviter but it doesn't sound natural for this context. The usual way is using a word that denotes the relationship between them. By the way, Carol can be called plus one also.
    – ermanen
    Mar 12, 2015 at 22:18
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    Meal ticket - which is kind of crass, but maybe "Bob is Carol's ticket to the event" would be better and less rude-sounding. :-)
    – Kristina Lopez
    Mar 12, 2015 at 22:31
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    It is only fitting to give @ermanen a +1 for "plus one".
    – TimR
    Mar 12, 2015 at 22:49
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    @HotLicks I was only speaking half-in-jest when I suggested patron. Clearly there is no word that fits - certainly not chaperone unless Carol is about 16 and Bob's her older brother. Why should there be a word? Don't people have powers of description? Far too many things are given 'names', in my opinion. And naming things only creates institutions of them!
    – WS2
    Mar 13, 2015 at 6:27

4 Answers 4

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chaperone

noun

  1. a person who accompanies and looks after another person or group of people.
    synonyms: supervisor, companion, duenna, escort, minder, den mother

    "Bob chaperoned Carol to Alice's party"

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    The connotation of "chaperone" is that Carol needs supervision, perhaps even implying that Carol was the one invited but Bob was sent along to make sure she didn't get into trouble. It doesn't seem completely wrong, but I'd be wary of using it, given that connotation.
    – AlannaRose
    Mar 13, 2015 at 16:52
  • It seems to be relatively more popular than the other alternatives in TV history. This might be interesting: Bookworm
    – Vinayak
    Mar 13, 2015 at 18:15
  • While interesting, that only shows it is a more commonly used word, not whether it is appropriate for this context. For example, the word "victor" is more popular than any of the suggestions, but it doesn't match the request at all.
    – AlannaRose
    Mar 13, 2015 at 19:59
  • I didn't say it was more appropriate, just more popular :) And I downloaded a few random subtitles containing the word and most of them didn't use "chaperone" to mean supervise a woman, although some did.
    – Vinayak
    Mar 13, 2015 at 20:15
  • Chaperone explicitly "[carries connotations about a guardian (one who looks after another) type relationship of Bob over Carol]"
    – Mazura
    Mar 14, 2015 at 7:56
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I didn't like any of the definitions I found. May it suffice to say he is her ticket in:

Bob is Carol's voucher.

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  • Ticket, meal-ticket, and voucher seem the closest fit. Maybe add some definitions as support?
    – AlannaRose
    Mar 13, 2015 at 16:53
  • Also, Attendant, but again no definition suits me. The synonyms do however: escort, companion, guard, guide. -MW
    – Mazura
    Mar 14, 2015 at 7:34
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invitee

...is adequate to indicate the person who is actually invited, as in "invitees should ensure that their plus ones obey the rules". It does not specify the relationship though...

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guest-bringer

This is just a word I made up, a combination of guest and bringer.

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