Spinster Males ("minster")

[Tony Glaser]

>To the Editor:
>
>   "Minster?"  Bah, humbug!
>   I'm a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary, and I must
>object to Alexandra Jacobs' coining of the new word, "minster," for
>"spinster" heterosexual males in their forties who are still not
>married.
>   We're a great group of guys!  We're not desperate!  We've got
>money!  We've traveled the world!  The Wall Street Journal has
>called us a genius (January 2nd, page A20, regrettably below the
>fold)!  We don't need those _Sex and the City_ gals!
>   Just between us, though, if Alexandra's not married...

In any case, minster is not a new word, at least not on the other
side of the Atlantic.

Tony Glaser