single father

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

Isn't this just an ambiguity between a compound and an adjective-plus-noun construction, like blackbird and black bird? Or an ambiguity I'm the meaning of "single"?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrea Morrow <aandrea1234 at GMAIL.COM>

Date:         Sat, 20 Dec 2008 10:09:16
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject:      Re: [ADS-L] single father


My ex-husband (with whom I have joint physical and legal custody of our
12-year-old son) would be shocked to hear that you wouldn't consider him a
"single father."  We split parenting time equally, and he does pay child
support due to the disparity in our incomes.  He calls him self a "single
dad" or "single father", and no one here in Michigan seems to find that
odd.  (I'm remarried, so I'm not a single mom!)
Andrea

On Sat, Dec 20, 2008 at 9:02 AM, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: single father
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed.:
>
> "joint custody. An arrangement by which both parents share the
> responsibility for and authority over the child at all times, although one
> parent may exercise primary physical custody. [...] An award of joint
> custody does not necessarily mean an equal sharing of time; it does,
> however, mean that the parents will consult and share equally in the
> child's
> upbringing and in decision-making about upbringing."
>
> It sounds like the mother has primary physical custody in this case, which
> is why the father is making child-support payments.
>
> I would not use "single father" in this case, since the mother appears to
> have most of the day-to-day care of the child.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of
> Benjamin Barrett
> Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 11:22 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: single father
>
> It looks like a mix-up or else that something is missing to me. If he
> has custody, he shouldn't have to make support payments.
>
> Possibly, the support payments are back payments that he missed in the
> past. BB
>
> On Dec 19, 2008, at 10:58 PM, Victor wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Victor <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      single father
> >
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
> >
> > There seems to be an evolution of single fatherhood. My assumption has
> > always been that the term was, essentially, custodial. So, a single
> > father would have been someone whose spouse/partner/mother of child
> > either died or left the household, leaving the children behind. This
> > would also include more rare cases where the children were placed with
> > the father by a court order (for whatever reason). Thus, single
> > fathers
> > would, generally, have been more rare than single mothers, as it is
> > much
> > easier for a father to disappear without acknowledging a child.
> >
> > Not so now.
> >
> > <http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-10122646-92.html?tag=nl.e433>
> >
> > <blockquote>
> > As disappointing as it was for Campo to lose a job that he liked, this
> > 21-year-old has more responsibilities than most of his peers working
> > retail. He's a single father who recently won joint custody of his
> > 2-year-old son. Campo is also putting himself through school, studying
> > math with hopes of becoming a high school calculus teacher.
> >
> > But his priority right now is making his child support payments.
> > </blockquote>
> >
> > Child support payments usually imply shared and non-primary custody,
> > a.k.a. non-custodial parent. So, unless I am completely misreading
> > this,
> > the use here is of two "single parents"--both custodial and
> > non-custodial. Is this in common usage now? Or is this simply an
> > isolated incident?
> >
> >    VS-)
> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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