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Found phrase - starter marriage

Posted by Bob on February 12, 2002

In Reply to: Found phrase - starter marriage posted by ESC on February 12, 2002

: STARTER MARRIAGE -- ".a brief, training-wheels union that she says is becoming an unfortunate phenomenon within her generation. Some of her contemporaries, she says, spent more time planning their weddings than they did being married. She defines the starter marriage as one that lasts no more than five years, produces no children and ends by the time the couple are in their early 30s." Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky., Feb. 12, 2002, article on "The Starter Marriage and the Future of Matrimony," a book by "social demographer" Pamela Paul.

: This phrase must be taken from the phrase "starter home." People purchase a modest home at first and, with luck and good fortune, are able to "trade up" to a more expensive house later.

And there's the derisive term "starter castles." the oversized, overpriced monstrosities that sprung up during the dot-bomb era, as a feature of soulless suburban sprawl. These hideous houses-on-steroids are situated around a golf course, generally too close together, on treeless lots, with an architectural style that can best be described as LookAtMe Complicated, with turrets and decks and a roof line like a stockmarket chart. There is nothing at all within walking distance (ever read :Suburban Nation"?) so these yuppies must climb into their (oversized, overpriced --naturally) urban assault vehicles to burn $5 worth of fuel to fetch dog food for the obligatory golden retreiver.

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