Now I Can Marry In Britain!

Ah relief!

 

The Times online reported today that the British government will "...abolish the traditional terms 'spinster' and 'bachelor' in new reforms to marriage laws..."

 

Praise the lord! To think, had I actually found someone to agree to run off and marry me in Britain or Wales, I'd have to face a marriage certificate blaring "spinster!" for all eternity.

 

Ah, and those Brits are so damned helpful, even going so far as to provide a nice definition at the end:

 

"The term spinster developed as a way of describing a woman who spins, but developed into the legal definition of an unmarried woman. The occupational description disappeared as the spinning trade died out in the industrial revolution. By the 18th century it had acquired derogatory connotations, synonymous with "old maid".

 

Bachelor has always had more romantic associations. As well as referring to an unmarried man, it could also refer to a man aspiring to be a knight bachelor, or a man (and now woman) who had taken their first degree. Unlike spinster, the term also retained its association with youth, and unmarried men referred to as bachelors were invariably unmarried young men ."

 

Yesh, nothing more romantic than living the rock and roll lifestyle in my rented "spinster pad". Not quite them same... eh...

 

(Well, at least they no longer lock us in the attic and pull out our teeth.)