Civil Partnerships: A Well-Reasoned Letter.

From: Jim Beck, Lindrick Grove, Tickhill, Doncaster.
AS a student of language, to me the issue of so-called gay marriage is a simple matter of semantics. Back in the mists of time copper and tin were combined into an alloy called bronze.
If today a new alloy were made from say copper and gold then no one would suggest that it too should be called bronze; a new word would be coined for it rather than trying to stuff another meaning into an existing word.
Similarly, a ceremonial union between a man and a woman was for hundreds of years called a marriage, a precise word to describe a particular state of affairs. So surely a union between same sex couples should likewise be given a new defining noun, avoiding any confusion about its meaning; the commitment between the couple would be no less on that account and the beautiful English language would not thereby be brutally mangled.
Oh sorry, I forgot, the legal term “civil partnership” already exists.
Yorks Post.