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From: jack@cca.UUCP (Jack Orenstein)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Name Changes
Message-ID: <4076@cca.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 10-Sep-85 09:41:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: cca.4076
Posted: Tue Sep 10 09:41:20 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 12-Sep-85 12:43:46 EDT
Organization: Computer Corp. of America, Cambridge
Lines: 40

> > You have a 50 50 chance of winding up divorced.  Those are the 
> >statistics, like it or not.

This was in answer to a woman who decided to keep her maiden name. 
(That's such a quaint, old-fashioned term. It probably offends a lot of
people out there too.) 

It's true, you can use statistics to prove anything. Last I heard, the
divorce rate was 50%. That seems to suggest that if a woman decides to 
keep her maiden name she is not taking any chance at all.

Did someone *really* say that? I predict a bright future with the National
Enquirer. I further predict that this will be one of the stories:


MARRIAGE CAN KILL YOU

Baltimore, MD.  Scientists at the National Institute of Health have found
a virtually 100% correlation between marriage and death. Dr. P. Eau de Chien,
aided by his research team, has looked at marriage licenses and death 
certificates from City Hall for the past 100 years. Statistics seem to 
indicate that the average 21 year old bride can expect only another 50 
years of life. A tall price to pay for love.
   We spoke to the newly married Mrs. Clamella Shott (nee Srinivasan) on the
steps of City Hall, mere moments after her marriage. She was surprised at 
the results of the study but seemed stoic, "No, I didn't realize it at 
all. Only fifty years? ... Yes, we're very much in love, and I would have 
married him anyway."
   Dr. Eau de Chien, emphasized that his group has found only a statistical 
correlation and that he hopes to establish a cause-and-effect relationship
in the future. He has applied to NIH for a $10 million grant for this
purpose.



             Jack Orenstein


These are, in fact, the opinions of my employers.