From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!duke!unc!wm
Newsgroups: net.singles
Title: More questions...
Article-I.D.: unc.3921
Posted: Mon Sep  6 20:02:37 1982
Received: Tue Sep  7 00:35:04 1982


I'm sorry I seem to be only submitting things about the opposite sex,
but I'm just trying to get this group rolling.  One thing that I am
curious about is people's attitudes about marriage.  I know of two
couples who have lived together for so long that they just started
calling themselves married.  I.e. there was never a ceremony or a
definite date that marked the difference between "just" living together
and "taking the big step".  Is this common nowadays?  Does this mark a
changing attitude about marriage, something like that people are still
getting married, but it is no longer such a big deal to them?  Funny
thing is that these two relationships seem to be very stable, compared
to some of the more traditionally married people I know.  Is there some
reason for this?  Sometimes I think that the marriage ceremony is
part of a societal ritual that glorifies marriage, leaving the real
thing somewhat hollow in comparison.

If you are single, do you consider it to be a permanent situation, or
are you planning on getting married whenever someone comes along who
you want to marry, or are you actively looking for someone to marry?
Or is it just that nobody has been able to put up with playing second
fiddle to a hunk of computing machinery?  When (or if) you do get married,
will the ceremony be important to you, or will you go through with it
to make your relatives happy?  Would you consider living together a
substitute for marriage, or a precursor?

	Wm Leler, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill