# The L Word

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-l-word/712711>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 15, 2015, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-l-word/712711 "2015-02-15T10:01:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2015, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-l-word/712711/1 "2015-02-15T10:01:46Z")

</div>

If you were to get married, would you want it to say you want to be together

“as long as you both shall **live** ” (til death do us part)

OR

“as long as you both shall **love** ” ?

Maybe the change of the L word has caused the increase of divorce in modern times.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2015, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-l-word/712711/2 "2015-02-15T10:14:48Z")

</div>

Maybe the fact society recognizes that not every marriage works out, that people should not be forced to remain in abusive situations, and the fact that women are no longer reliant on being the chattel of a man to survive has more to do with it than the wording of the wedding ceremony.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2015, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-l-word/712711/3 "2015-02-15T10:29:26Z")

</div>

Ok maybe the wording doesn’t really affect things but which wording would be more in line with your beliefs?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2015, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-l-word/712711/4 "2015-02-15T11:10:44Z")

</div>

We used the “until death do we part” in ours, actually, and so far so good, but at the time we understood that to be an ideal, not something carved in stone.

My father’s side of the family has long utilized marriage contracts that permitted divorce, but then, they were never Christian so they never used Christian wording in their marriages anyway. Oddly enough, divorce wasn’t particularly common, the wording doesn’t have much to do with it. My parents didn’t part until death even if they didn’t use the Christian phrasing when they got married.

I think it’s not a matter of MY beliefs, it’s what the couple getting married believes, or wants, or whatever.