Husband And/or Wife?

[TheBaBas]

The story in the attached link is just utterly absurd, isn't it?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10147246/Men-can-be-wives-and-women-husbands-as-Government-overrules-the-dictionary.html

Does this mean that Mrs TheBaBas is now my husband? Actually, despite 15 years together, we aren't married, and therefore is she now my boyfriend? (my tongue is firmly wedged in my cheek!).

[FredPuli43]

Lawyers have the answers 1) we use the parties' names thus: "Charles (hereinafter called 'the husband')," or simply " Charles ( 'the husband')" and "Bill (hereinafter called 'the wife') or ('the wife') (2) we use A and B : "When a party A marries party B" or " A marries B" and (3) we remember the 1850 Interpretation Act, Lord Brougham's Act, which provides that the masculine shall import the feminine,or, as students remember the rule, the male shall embrace the female, so "he" is used for "he or she" unless the context otherwise requires.

Lord Brougham founded Cannes, which had been a fishing village until he was stopped there by a cordon sanitaire, liked it, built a house there and invited his friends down, who, in turn, built houses. Goodness knows what variations of couplings that all created.

[beso]

It is a very simple way of accommodating same sex marriages without the need to change existing terms. People can go on writing laws using exactly the same language as always and the change of definition makes it work in same sex relationships.

Much like "spokesman" and similar terms became applied to both men and women.

People will get used to it and nobody will even blink in a generation.

[anotheoldgit]

jake-the-peg

/// Now the Telegraph knows this of course they're just playing to the prejudices of it's readers. ///

And some have the nerve to talk about prejudices, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, the Right-Wing press, they want be satisfied till they get us all reading from their Little 'Red' Book

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_olcoZlUZC74/SqEk-EFhlDI/AAAAAAAADYU/xvwVAeMM-d4/s400/250px-LittleRedBook.jpg

[FredPuli43]

It's not going to affect you, aog, is it? Nor me or most others. So what are you fussing about?