antedating wife swapping (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Laurence Horn]

On Nov 26, 2012, at 5:57 PM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC wrote:

> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> OED has 1959 for "Wife Swapping" (sub entry under "wife")
>
>
> _Janesville [WI] Gazette_ 4 Dec 1869 p 1 col 5
> "Two couples were arraigned and found guilty in the Lawrence, Mass.,
> court last week, for husband and wife swapping."
>
>
> Statesville NC _Landmark_ 2 Apr 1886 col 6
> "In the South statistics show that not more than one divorce occurs in
> 100 marriages and that wife swapping is almost unknown."
>
Thems was the good ol' days in Dixie.  (At least we have the divorce stats to show the change, if not the swapping stats.)  I was also struck by the wording for the 19 century in the Wisconsin cite--"husband and wife swapping".  Very egalitarian of them!

LH

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