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03/18/2009
It was redefined years ago, folks!
Because of this video...
...Webster's Dictionary's supposedly "new" definition of marriage is getting lots of play in the conserva-world:
Webster's dictionary redefines 'marriage' [WND]
And as per the dance, it's also getting lots of reaction in the pro-gay world:
Marriage redefined in Webster's - fundies erupt [Pam's House Blend]
Marriage:Redefined [Queerty]
So that being the case, we just want to tell people on all sides: This definition is not all that new! In fact, we have been using it since at least 2006 to set the "definition of marriage" crowd straight. So it's been around for at least three years, probably much longer.
Maybe if the social conservs hadn't spent the entire Bush administration trying to tell us what the definition is, then they would have noticed that which was readily available the entire time.
**UPDATE, 3/19: 2003. That is the year that Merriam-Webster says they made the change.
Your thoughts
Charlemagne (the first Holy Roman Emperor) had 5 wives & 20 children--the Catholic Church redefined marriage as 1 man/ 1 woman monogamy-until-you die only after his death about 700 years ago.
Why are the Protestants making such a big deal about "redefining marriage" 500 years after Henry VIII redefined "church" in England?
Posted by: Wyzdyx | Mar 19, 2009 2:33:24 AM
Dictionaries do not choose word definitions. They use what is currently used in language, and if two different versions of the word are subtly different pick the one that is either most common or earliest used. If an alternate meaning occurs, they merely add it, as has happened here.
So why the overreaction?
Posted by: corvidae | Mar 19, 2009 6:30:17 AM
.... and in 2000 American Heritage:
“We were one of the last ones among the major dictionary publishers to do this,” said Merriam-Webster spokesman Arthur Bicknell.
Boston-based Houghton-Mifflin, publisher of the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, modified its definition of marriage in 2000, adding a fourth example to the entry: “A union between two persons having the customary but usually not the legal force of marriage: a same-sex marriage.”
Posted by: LOrionL | Mar 19, 2009 12:33:53 PM
