When someone speaks in a way that strikes you as unusually ambiguous, consider that it may be intentionally so to avoid placing emphasis on irrelevancies.
What makes you think I didn't? If he's in the habit of intentionally sabotaging himself that increases the value of having it being pointed out to him.
I wouldn't highlite it if he wouldn't have specifically asked for ways to draw more attention on himself. The more of your attention you concentrate in withholding information the less likely people are going to give you attention.
It's not like it's wrong to do so, but you should be aware of the tradeoffs that you are making.
It's not obvious that attention is being diverted to obscuring information. Maybe "partner" is the lower-effort term. It is for me: "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" have weird connotations and baggage that make me want to pause before using them and wonder if I'm really being accurate.
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.