Thursday, August 18, 2005

Lay English

Russian born Eugene Volokh interprets "lay English" for us here. That's a particularly apt term because it's about getting laid (or not), and someone is putting a lot of English on it.

For instance, we have people tell us with a straight face that abstinence fails to prevent pregnancy. Sheesh, I hope they're wrong. Could it be that sex has nothing to do with conception? Is any woman subject to becoming pregnant at any time? Wow, it sounds almost as if they believe that *DIVINE INTERVENTION* is involved.

Yet somehow I suspect that people who spread this nonsense would argue energetically against the idea of a virgin birth. And if you really wanted to spin them up, tell them that by their definition, George Bush abstains from war.

(Condoms, OTOH, are beyond the reach of product liability even though they fail regularly even with perfect application by the users.)

How could someone reach a conclusion as stupid as what we're hearing about abstinence? Maybe it's something like this - 1) I abstained from sex with Julia Roberts, 2) she popped anyway, ergo 3) abstinence does not prevent pregnancy. This doesn't account for the women, but then an older relative who had had many kids used to tell me that she'd had 6 before she knew what caused it. (She was kidding)

No, the anti-abstention crowd isn't this stupid. They're just dishonest.

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