"bi to a degree" — the spectrum chat we keep having...

so my partner describes himself as "bi to a degree" which i think is honest but it gets him in awkward conversations with couples who want a tick-box answer. he'll kiss men, he'll do mutual stuff, he doesnt want full penetrative, and apparently that combination is "fence sitting" to a chunk of the scene. why do we still need a clean label in a community thats meant to be exploratory. do other bi-curious or partial-bi men in LS just lie and say "bi" to simplify or do you stick to the long version and accept the filter losses