'Civil unions' makes updated Merriam-Webster dictionary

'Civil unions' makes updated Merriam-Webster dictionary
By Adam Gorlick --Associated Press
September 30, 2005
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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Go ahead, treat yourself. Check out the latest chick flick, get a bikini wax or enjoy an ice cream that might give you a brain freeze.
And if you're not sure what you're getting yourself into, it might be wise to consult the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, which formally defines those terms that have taken root in American conversation.
The words are joined by 15 other new entries — including civil unions — that make up the 1,664 pages of the newly published book.
Civil unions have been talked about enough in social and political circles to earn a place in the Collegiate's latest edition.
The dictionary dates the term's genesis to 1992. But a Vermont lawmaker insists it wasn't really coined until 2000, when his state became the country's first to establish the legal rights of same-sex couples.
"We needed to decide a name for this, and we just didn't have one," said Bill Lippert, a Democrat who now chairs the Legislature's House Judiciary Committee. "Somewhere, someone said 'civil union,' and we all said 'oh, that sounds good.' It was a name that did what we wanted it to do. It was new, it designated that the fact that this was a civil act, and it suggested the bringing together of a union."
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Read the rest here.

But awesome about the unions!