Bigamy with three wives

[Jonathan Lighter]

A fellow who lived in Mizzoo
  Dared to marry three brides and then two.
  When they said, "It's polygamy,
  Mixed up with bigamy!"
  He said, "Pretty big of me, too!"

  JL

Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Laurence Horn
Subject: Re: Bigamy with three wives
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On the other hand, there's the testimony of a certain fellow up I-95 from here:

There once was a man of Old Lyme
Who married three wives at a time.
When asked, "Why a third?"
He replied, "One's absurd!
And bigamy, sir, is a crime."

LH


At 11:59 AM -0400 7/9/07, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>Yesterday the Boston area RCN cable channel information described the
>1993 movie "The Man with Three Wives" as "Based on the true story of
>a bigamous physician." Well, I suppose -- polygamy is two letters longer.
>
>The OED2's most recent use in this expanded sense (bigamy, n.,1.b.,
>"loosely") is from 1635: J . Taylor (Water P.) Old Parr Dj, Each man
>had many wives, which Bigamie, Was such increase to their Posterity.
>
>But here is a
>postdating:
>http://watchingtheimages.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_archive.html. "He
>was also juggling three wives, Robyn (Pam Dawber), Katy (Joanna
>Kerns), and Lillian (Kathleen Lloyd). The man made damn sure that
>none of the women knew they were part of bigamy."
>
>Joel
>Who has imagined that when Mitt Romney is next asked for his views on
>gay marriage, permitted in his former domain, he will reply that
>according to his creed marriage is a sacred contract between one man
>and several women.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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