Re: Why do people still get married?

Curse Of Millhaven wrote:
> Seems to me marriage went obsolete sometime in the last century.
>

People still like to make public affirmation of their feelings for each 
other and marriage is universally understood to do that [1].
Plus it is a very convenient shorthand for saying "Gimme all those legal 
rights and benefits without having to apply for them one at a time."
Plus it's the best way yet invented to say "We will have equal rights over

how our children are brought up and an equal duty to sup****t them unless
one 
of us screws up."

In short, there are other ways of getting almost everything that marriage 
gives you [2], but they add up to a whole bunch of time-consuming work. 
Marriage ticks the boxes in a  5 minute ceremony.
Oh, and if you plan it right, you get a ton of presents and you can even 
trade of four or five of the toasters for a computer.

[1] Nothing in this posting should be construed as offering an opinion on 
Anna Nicole Smith
[2] Try getting a widow's pension when you're not married and hear 
bureaucratic laughter in your ears

-- 
John Dean
Oxford