I came across a peculiar piece of syntax in the newspaper the other day. It was in an obituary about a very interesting woman, who had let an amazing life. In the litany of activities she had accomplished was the note that she was a serial “marrier”- meaning, I presume, that she had had several husbands.
I was struck by the term “serial marrier.” It is almost Victorian in composition, but, of course, not in execution. The Victorians did have their dalliances, but they would rarely have been recorded in their obituaries.
This phrase became a topic of conversation with both my writing friend, whose husband had actually read the entire article to her and my daughter, who said, “Well she must have had a least four husbands,” because to be considered a serial killer, you had to have slain at least four victims.
We then got onto the topic of serial monogamy – always better than serial homicide. I have a relative, who has had five marriages. Well, number two came back as number five, so maybe there were just four. My daughter has a friend whose grandmother has had three husbands – again maybe only two, because number one came back as number three. Another friend’s answer to her several marriages is that, “life is too short to have had just one husband.”
We do live in interesting times and being a “wordsmith” I am always fascinated by how language has kept up with our every changing values.
What does this all have to do with “cereals?” Well, I guess it’s about sowing wild oats. I should really look up the origin of the term, but I’m sure it has something to do with “invasive species,” or “strengthening the common stock” with a rogue gene or two…or four. That is, of course, after a lot wild and indiscriminate sexual activity, before one becomes a marrier.
I am tempted to list here all the songs, I know, whose lyrics pine for the long grasses of summer, and the wanton fields of gold.