Saturday 4 October 2008

Contra- what?

We all know about hetero-, homo-, tri-, bi-, retro- and metrosexual. Now there's a new word: contrasexual.

I recently visited a girl friend, who is in the process of divorce. One afternoon she says, "I'd never thought I'd be a divorcee".

I've been reading historical books, set in the 1800's; an age where women were married off in their mid-teens. It was seen as a fate almost worse than death not to be married in your twenties, never mind your thirties, which is where I find myself. So, laughing, I replied "Well, I'm a spinster, so you're in good company".

Spinster is such a nasty word; far more negative than the male equivalent of bachelor. Bachelorette is playful; contrasexual is representative.

Thank goodness for the constant evolution and expansion of the English language.

* Image from Oct08 Fairlady magazine.

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