Everytime they come up with a new bright idea, I picture those Guinness commercials and the two guys saying "Brrrrilliant!"

They've used the Bible. Now the dictionary. Pretty soon, they'll use the 'American Gothic' painting by Grant Wood. You don't see two men holding a pitchfork in front of a house togeter do ya?

I might buy stock in the companies selling blood pressure meds. I think the wingers are probably taking it by the handfuls.

The people at Merriam-Webster had better get ready for a large influx of mail containing teabags, pictures of teabags and teabag postcards. I'd love to see these "morans" sponsor a dictionary book burning in the town square.

They don't like the dictionary defining a word in a way that is completely in line with the way they themselves use it? It's not like Merriam-Webster is putting a value judgment on the term, it only notes that it's being used this way (even by the people who oppose it).

Mr. Lancers, I was always under the impression that 'Gothic' was a painting of a farmer with his daughter, not wife. If true, then I'm positive that it will definitely be used as a defense of 'tradition marriage' by the wingers.

Goddamn dictionaries and their etymology of words. If the wingnuts bitch about this than I expect them to only speak old English. BECAUSE WORDS CAN NEVER CHANGE. (Not from Hebrew, to Latin, to the King James Version) NEVER!

Here is what the OED has to say about the matter:

1. a. The condition of being a husband or wife; the relation between persons married to each other; matrimony.
The term is now sometimes used with reference to long-term relationships between partners of the same sex.

etymology:

c1300 St. Edmund Rich (Laud) 101 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 434 Al ful beo of {th}e Mariage, {ygh}e, and fayn it wolde un-binde! a1393 GOWER Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) V. 1260 Whan sche was of Age, Sche tok non hiede of mariage. c1485 (1456) G. HAY Bk. Law of Armys (1901) 21 The mareagh of kyrk men. a1513 H. BRADSHAW Lyfe St. Werburge (1521) I. xvii. sig. f.ii, Many dyuers persones..Refused this worlde..Renounsynge vayne pleasures ryches and maryage. 1567 Compend. Bk. Godly Songs (1897) 202 Mariage is ane blissit band. 1606 B. JONSON Hymenæi 737 Marriage Loves Obiect is. a1631 J. DONNE Serm. (1953) VI. 180 Nor does hee dishonour marriage, that praises Virginity. 1675 W. WYCHERLEY Country-wife I. 11 Well, Jack, by thy long absence from the Town, the grumness of thy countenance, and the slovenlyness of thy habit; I shou'd give thee joy, shoud' I not, of Marriage? 1755 B. FRANKLIN Observ. conc. Increase Mankind 9 in W. Clarke Observ. French, They are the Cause of the Generation of Multitudes by the Encouragement they afford to Marriage. 1767 A. YOUNG Farmer's Lett. 189 Marriage will ever flourish, when there is no danger of children proving an incumbrance. 1849 C. BRONTË Shirley I. ix. 237 Marriage! I cannot bear the word: it sounds so silly and utopian. 1894 O. WILDE Let. Aug. (1962) 364 What fun our dinners were in the old days! I hope marriage has not made you too serious? It has never had that effect on me. 1921 J. GALSWORTHY To Let 134 Marriage without a decent chance of relief is only a sort of slave-owning. 1975 G. LICHTENSTEIN in N.Y. Times 27 Apr. 49 The move toward legally-sanctioned marriages between persons of the same sex. 1994 N. DEMILLE Spencerville ii. 9 She'd noticed that her husband was just going through the motions of marriage.

I learned good at school.

Little known fact about the American Gothic portrait:

It's actually of a farmer and his daughter, not his wife.

>>Little known fact about the American Gothic portrait:

>>It's actually of a farmer and his daughter, not his wife.

This won't bother the wingnuts.

i once heard a server say she was "marrying" the ketchup as she combined two bottles into one. damn "slippery slope"!

this is merely the latest illustration of the fact that conservatism is built solely upon hypocricy and nonsense.dems are competing against themselves at this point.the right continue to make fools of themselves on issue after issue,big and small.eric cantor the other day,when confronted by lawrence o'donnell about what his plan was,said essentially his plan was to insist that geithner come up w/ a plan.

if the economy begins to improve to some discernable degree,and dems can avoid any sex/financial scandals,we'll be in good shape for a long time to come.
republicans will not-in fact,CAN not take it from us.

gypsy -

Marry is a term used by cooks, brewers, perfumers, and vintners throughout the world. The 'marrying' of flavors and aromas is why many things, such as chile, are always better on the second day.

If GI had shown the OED definition of marry, rather than marriage, this definition would have been prominent. This terminology has been in use for at least hundreds of years if not thousands.

Many recipes involve procedures that are present only to better marry spice/ingredient flavors. I add a touch of Balsamic vinegar to my chile with the spices since it aids the marrying of the spices with the beef.

@GItheJOE:

Have you paid for online access to the OED? Impressive. Good thing to do for school, definitely. If not, and you have a way to access it free, I'd very much like to know how/where.

The American Heritage Dictionary (my preferred free online dictionary, especially for the etymology and usage notes, when available) has already gone there too.

marriage - d. A union between two persons having the customary but usually not the legal force of marriage: a same-sex marriage.