• TheMadFool
    13.8k
    What does "wife of 64 years mean"?

    Does it mean the wife is 64 years old or does it mean that the marriage lasted 64 years
  • Shamshir
    855
    Wife of 64 years - wife for 64 years.
  • Sir2u
    3.2k
    That she is 64 years old, it is very rare that marriages last that long.
  • Hanover
    12k
    That she is 64 years old, it is very rare that marriages last that long.Sir2u

    I say it means she's been a wife for 64 years.
  • Baden
    15.6k


    The phrase 'Wife of 64 years' doesn't have a determinable meaning out of context. What's the sentence you're confused about or want to make?
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k


    "Dr. Craven is survived by Dorothy Drakesmith Craven, his wife of 64 years; a son, David; a daughter, Sarah Craven; and five grandchildren."

    John P. Craven, 90, pioneer of spying at sea, dies
  • Baden
    15.6k


    They were married for 64 years.
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k
    They were married for 64 years.Baden

    Congratulations to them. Thank you.
  • Baden
    15.6k


    No worries. It could be confusing because we have the phrase, X years of age. As in 'She is 64 years of age.' So, someone might conceivably say, 'I have a wife of 64 years of age' (though the first 'of' would be superfluous at best). You could more correctly say, 'I have a wife, 64 years of age', or better, 'I have a wife who's 64 years of age', or best, 'My wife is 64'. But someone's 'wife of X years' (period) definitely refers to the length of the marriage as before the marriage there was no 'wife'. It's parallel to the phrase, our "union of X years".
  • Hanover
    12k
    Why not both?Michael

    Often marriage ceremonies don't occur on the birthing table.
  • Sir2u
    3.2k
    I say it means she's been a wife for 64 years.Hanover

    Without trying to be mean or anything, but does anyone really care what you say. :wink:

    But in the context of the article you are right, as Baden explained.
  • Hanover
    12k
    Without trying to be mean or anything, but does anyone really care what you say. :wink:Sir2u

    Hopefully, as I'm a native English speaker.
  • Sir2u
    3.2k
    Hopefully, as I'm a native English speaker.Hanover

    That makes three of us, you and me too. Unless Manchester managed to gain its independence from England without me knowing.
  • Hanover
    12k
    That makes three of us, you and me too. Unless Manchester managed to gain its independence from England without me knowing.Sir2u

    You speak British, an antiquated English, the form spoken prior to the American corrections and perfection.
  • Michael
    14k
    You speak British, an antiquated English, the form spoken prior to the American corrections and perfection.Hanover

    He speaks Mancunian, so there certainly are issues there.

    But American is just dumbed down British. Apparently "doughnut" is too complicated for you lot.
  • Hanover
    12k
    I had a friend (you'd call him a "mate" because you guys mate your friends) who spoke this rhyming Cockney talk that seemed sort of cool, but it was a little stupid too. If you could talk that way, I'd appreciate it.
  • Baden
    15.6k


    Found this vid of @Michael doing his cockney thing. You'll notice he's a bit vertically challenged but a charming fella' nonetheless.

  • Sir2u
    3.2k
    Found this vid of Michael doing his cockney thing. You'll notice he's a bit vertically challenged but a charming fella' nonetheless.Baden

    :lol: :rofl: :lol: :rofl:
  • Sir2u
    3.2k
    You speak British, an antiquated English, the form spoken prior to the American corrections and perfection.Hanover

    Ya think? Ya'lls wrong on that. I lived in Canada, the USA and several other places around Central America as well as England. The last time I was back there I had trouble understanding them and they thought I was a foreigner.

    I have the bad habit of picking up other peoples way of speaking when I am around them for a while. I was in Belize and the Bay Islands for work and my father used to laugh when he heard me speaking after returning from a trip.
  • Hanover
    12k
    Ya think? Ya'lls wrong on thatSir2u
    Oh, the irony in telling us you can speak in all tongues. Y'all (not ya'll) is a contraction of you all. It is the Southern American informal plural of "you." It would therefore be "y'all're (y'all are) wrong, not y'alls. Yous is the plural of you in northern England (where it sounds like you're from), so perhaps you combined y'all and yous into single mismatched slang. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yous
  • Sir2u
    3.2k
    Oh, the irony in telling us you can speak in all tongues. Y'all (not ya'll) is a contraction of you all. It is the Southern American informal plural of "you." It would therefore be "y'all're (y'all are) wrong, not y'alls. Yous is the plural of you in northern England (where it sounds like you're from), so perhaps you combined y'all and yous into single mismatched slang. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yousHanover

    Extraordinary bit of research done there. :clap:

    The Bay Islanders way of speaking is influenced by the southern states drawling speech as well as the English settlers from generations ago, but they do actually say ya'll. In Belize, most of the time it sounds like y'll. Language is so much fun.
  • Hanover
    12k
    I couldn't listen to that box of toys.
  • S
    11.7k
    What does "wife of 64 years mean"?TheMadFool

    A woman of questionable sanity.
  • Pattern-chaser
    1.8k
    You speak British, an antiquated English, the form spoken prior to the American corrections and perfection.Hanover

    <rant>
    Oh my, a heretic! :scream: English is the language spoken by the English people, who live in England. The lingua franca of the Western World is called "American"*. It is the language of barbarians.
    </rant>

    Thank you for your attention.

    * - Or "American English", if you wish also to refer to the historic source of the American language.
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