Marriage redefined in Webster's - fundies erupt

Fundie's talking points now?

Well, this should be interesting. It takes away yet another one of their talking points!

I wish I had a dollar everytime a fundie used the dictionary as the basis for maintaining the status quo and denying marriage equality.

I'll update my scorecard:

1) Romer v. Evans - gay rights are not "special rights" (1996)

2) Lawrence v. Texas - gays and lesbians aren't inherently criminal (i.e., "sodomy") -- a tool the fundies used precisely for discrimination (2003)

3) Webster's dictionary - gays and lesbians are, in fact, part of the marriage definition after all. (2009)

I can hardly wait for The Peter to do a write up on this. This will be entertaining.

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by: JJ in Chicago @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 21:21:36 PM CDT

Buying Popcorn futures

Fat Matt and the Little Peter with a soupcons of Laurie Higgins. Add to that the craziness over the UN declaration and the risk of injury from exploding head shrapnel becomes a serious hazard.

"Neither Lifestyle nor Agenda"

http://tips-q.com

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by: davidhart @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 22:12:40 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You might want to modify that scorecard

3) Goodridge v. Dep't of Public Health - marriage not just for straight folks, at least in Mass. (2003)

3a) Springfield, Mass-based Merriam-Webster gets the memo.

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by: Diane95 @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 13:31:31 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

So, how long before

they announce the first dictionary-burnings?

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by: Sharoney @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 21:22:55 PM CDT

With the way the Christians are behaving over,,,

the new definition of Marriage.  They will have to change the definition of Christians - Tired Whinning Jack Asses who are stuck in the 1500s.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 21:30:44 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Or, how long before

they publish their own dictionary?

"The Christian Dictionary of the American Language"

mar·riage  

Function:
  noun
Etymology:
  From the Holy Bible, Genesis
Date:
  The Beginning

The state of being united by God the Holy Father to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a Holy and sanctified relationship.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 21:32:58 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

hmm. you know, that would be a lot of work but

there are enough of them that it could make someone comfortable, if not rich.

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by: aggieric @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 21:36:24 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I was only half joking

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 21:39:28 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Creators of Conservapedia

Creators of Conservapedia to the rescue!!!!

"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting." -E.E. Cummings

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by: popsiclestand @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 02:13:52 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hilarious Idea!

Christian dictionary!  BWHAHAHAHA!  That's a scream and not a silent one.  BTW - It would need to include my new favorite christcon euphemism for abortion: "womb lynching".

I trolled conservapedia for a month or so before they started getting wise and booted me.  Oddly the straw that broke Phil Schalfy's back was "praising" Coulter for calling John Edwards a "faggot".  Apparently they didn't want that kind of language on conservapedia...*despite* the fact that one of their favorite spokesmen said. ;-)

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by: hbeeinc @ Sun Mar 22, 2009 at 08:09:15 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

The Christionary?

 Have the so-called correct definitions of words and market it to sell at the creation museum.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.

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by: HappyCat @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 21:41:59 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You know what...

We should actually write and publish this and then secretly donate all of the profits to marriage equality.

Wouldn't that be rich?

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 22:14:04 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

You're a genius

Make it a web site and profit from the Google ads.

Give the proceeds to Freedom to Marry.

Laugh til you cry.

But wait, there's more!

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by: PhoenixRising @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 22:25:53 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'd like to see...

how they'll burn an online dictionary.

____________________________________
Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum.

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by: tavdy79 @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 10:59:20 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

why, why, why.....

do people always give the Christianistas a pass as they fabricate the history of marriage?

"a contract between a man and a woman for centuries" my ass.  It's been a contract between a man and a woman's FATHER for centuries.  Or, between a boy's father and a girls father.  Or, for much of the world between a boy's father and many girls' fathers (or a man and many womens' fathers)

Drives me effin crazy.

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by: aggieric @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 21:28:05 PM CDT

Didn't start to change until the 1840s

The "contract between a man and a woman" didn't become the popular view until the 1840s -- about 150 years ago.

Just try to find marriage referenced that way in any document, book, newspaper article, or anything before that time.

That view is very modern -- and very Western. Most of the world population still view marriage as a business arrangement between families.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 21:38:12 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

American Heritage...

Has had it as such for a while, and its used by more literary institutions than websters, lol

This Is H.O.W.: Making Life Better Non profit transition living facility and services.

http://www.dyssonance.com  Breaking all the rules...

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by: dyssonance @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 21:54:21 PM CDT

American Heritage and OED, too

The OED's current revision to its marriage entry (March 09) has also updated with a usage note regarding same-sex marriage and greatly extended the illustrative citations for the first sense (including a 1975 NYT quotation referring to same sex marriage).

Susan

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by: granolasusan @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 06:42:54 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

14th Century....

They keep saying since 6,000 years ago.  You know, when the world was created?  Praise God Science.  

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by: Wes @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 22:11:35 PM CDT

I saw that Webster's entry

at least three years ago. Where the hell have they been? And by the way TOUGH SHIT.

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by: Donica @ Wed Mar 18, 2009 at 22:31:16 PM CDT

Hee hee :D

I love this. They want to legislate the usage of the English language. They've have better luck going to the seashore and doing the King Canute thing.

See a little man with his face turning red
Though his story's often told you can tell he's dead
--Genesis, "Foxtrot"

Here's what I find about compromise--
don't do it if it hurts inside,
'cause either way you're screwed,
eventually you'll find
you may as well feel good;
you may as well have some pride

--Indigo Girls

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by: Hypatia @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 01:37:27 AM CDT

Not just Massachusetts...

... but Connecticut,too!  Another reason to love The Constitution State.  Soon all of New England will be fair and equal.  

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by: brooklynct @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 05:04:36 AM CDT

Look what you LGBTQ people did!

With your redefining of marriage and all- it lowered the birth rates!

Whoops, wrong link. ;)

Interesting study and reading, once you find where the numbers are crunched and parsed out. This should cause a helluva lot more head-explosions among the fundies than the M-W disctionary.

But one thing I disliked was the "Bristol Palin" addition to this study. As much as I slam the family, this one girl is NOT the reason why unmarried teens are having kids. When there have been phrases like baby bump and bamp daddy thrown around for what, a decade now?

There should be a revision to marriage along the lines of:

Marriage: an outdated notion, touted hypocritically by Christians as the Gold Standard of American Life, when in reality it became obsolete long ago. Now (2009) used as an argument against equal rights for all adults as well as a shaming mechanism for those who conceive children before marriage (see "wedlock").  

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by: Louise @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 06:46:16 AM CDT

Webster's 1491

I'm sure if there were a 1491 edition of Webster's, it would define "earth" as

(1) The flat rectangular surface upon which we live.
(2) The only celestial body in the universe which has life upon it.
(3) The celestial body around which revolve all others in the universe.

But I suppose if it's in the dictionary, even once, that defines it for all times.

-Ted

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by: mandt @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 08:24:33 AM CDT

They just don't get it

One thing many people don't get about dictionaries is that they provide the currently used definitions of words. They may also provide archaic definitions that are now inaccurate in terms of how the word is used today.

However.

Dictionaries do not SET the definitions of words in stone for all time. They REPORT the current definitions of words as they're used currently. There's a big difference there.

But then, for those who are married (sorry) to the idea that books can be definitive, last-word rulebooks, I suppose the idea that the dictionary - like the bible - is not a rulebook but a guidebook would be completely incomprehensible and anathema.

(Ooo, big words. That's okay. They can look them up in the dictionary.)

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by: Killer of Sacred Cows @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 11:34:00 AM CDT

The only real surprise in this

is that they even know what a dictionary is.  Or any book, for that matter.

Americans suffer from an ignorance that is not only colossal, but sacred.  --James Baldwin

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by: QScribe @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 14:45:22 PM CDT

So they admit it!

word which has referred exclusively to a contract

exclusively a contract, with no god in the mix.

Interesting that the missed the other point that Merriam-Webster got wrong:

Etymology:
  Middle English mariage, from Anglo-French, from marier to marry
Date:
  14th century

Should be:
King James' English from the original word of God as stated in the old testament
Date:
6,000 years ago when the earth was made.

watashi no yomeiri wa doko desu ka

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by: belfrieboi @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 15:29:26 PM CDT

Let them erupt.

The angrier and more vocal they get the higher their blood pressure climbs and the shorter their miserable lives will be. Isn't it just sweet that their hate is gonna come round a bite them in the arse?

____________________________________
Cuius testiculos habes, habeas cardia et cerebellum.

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by: tavdy79 @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 18:31:34 PM CDT