I like the mental image of a seedy guy in a green eyeshade cranking out marriage licenses in his basement.

Aha! So that’s where my father came up with that bit of nonsense. Figures.

While it is hard to imagine the words “father” and “mother” entirely falling out of usage in favor of “parent,” they already have in the school notices I get from my daughters. We can’t deny that many male-specified terms have fallen into disfavor: businessman, chairman, policeman/fireman, serviceman, seaman, longshoreman, anchorman, draftsman, ombudsman, tribesman, remainderman, venireman, warehouseman, materialman, workman, foreman, landman, bondsman, juryman, and “the reasonable man standard.” Some Christian churches even seek to avoid gendered references to the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Moreover, female-specified terms have basically vanished: aviatrix and aviatress, conciliatrix and conciliatress, dictatrix and dictatress, prosecutrix, testatrix, tutrix, relatrix, heritrix or heritress, inheritrix and inheritress, victrix and victress. But a few holdouts remain. I occasionally hear reference to a landlady. And, although many female performers refer to themselves as actors, the Academy Awards still gives a prize for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Finally, the word dominatrix remains in circulation.

I chuckle at the idea of someone thinking that linguistic concerns should influence the SSM debate. But it’s eye-opening, too. I heard that Bush eliminates the word “parents” from his speeches, replacing that word with “moms and dads.” This sounds folksier, but it also emphasizes the idea that male and female parents differ. I surmise that some part of his audience takes comfort in that distinction.

And as for safe sodomy classes… hey, that sounds like a pretty good idea to me!

man, these are very silly people.
are we entirely sure that Caliban thing isn’t just some very, very subtle social satire?
since, isn’t caving and changing our values in ANY WAY to forestall attacks “letting the terrorists win?”

and I don’t like that sex ed thing. it seems like a bad idea. just a way to get Religion into public schools through the back door (no pun intended). I’m sure they’d start distributing Chick Tracts where Jesus explains to the reader how, why, and the methods of anal sex.

I have always fancied being ruled over by a wild man wearing a grass skirt and speaking iambic pentameter. I vote for Caliban.

Really, it is very difficult to come up with a single winner in the “dumbass reason against SSM” contest - there are so many fine entries.

Don’t think Dubya would agree with that idea. Or maybe I really am confused.