What's the "equivalent" of happily married? Married "in a state of tolerant resignation"?
If she thinks any form of unmarried relationship is "equivalent," she's on Planet Zongo.
Thanks Tax-chick, this kind of stuff is a pet peeve of mine, too. There is an amazing tendency in modern speech, conversation, and writing, to pepper the prose with little asides like that. In fact, many of those asides make no sense at all, but they create the impression that the writer or speaker is sophisticated.
If you ever want to have fun with someone, nicely follow up on these things. Much more often than not, you get that 'deer in the headlights' look that I often get whenever I ask people a 'real' question. :-)