What a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive.

I refer to the Oxford English Dictionary redefinition of marriage.

“What is marriage”? When most people want to check the definition of a word they turn to a dictionary, these days often online. The problem is, where does the authority of a dictionary derive from? Most would say accepted usage. So, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) states that it “reflects rather than dictates” what words mean.

Social issues often raise questions about the use and meaning of words and marriage is no exception. Same-sex marriage was about redefining marriage in law so that same-sex couples were treated the same as male-female couples, despite the obvious differences between the two.

But these ways of speaking degrade language, as it means there are no longer words in English to refer to the special nature of the life-long union of male and female in a new family unit.

And it has always been recognised there is something uniquely important about the marriage union. It is the gold standard for human relationships.

Real Marriage is the real deal. Marriage as the law and the OED now define it is something different. It is no kind of progress to have mixed up the two.

Norman Plaisted

Vivian Road

Newport