Re: Exogamy

From: Alex Ferguson <abf_at_cs.ucc.ie>
Date: Fri, 1 Sep 2000 14:17:52 +0100 (BST)

David Dunham:
> An exogamous clan marries outside itself.
>
> An exogamous bloodline marries outside itself. This may or may not be
> outside the clan, depending on whether the clan is exogamous. So it's
> an odd redundancy that, having said clans are exogamous, Greg goes on
> to say that bloodlines are as well.

I find it unlikely it was merely a redundancy. But stranger things have happened -- especially to Greg.

I believe, as I've stated oft before, that Orlanthi clans aren't strictly exogamous, other than in the sense that ultra-legalistically, if you shack up and raise kids with a member of another bloodline from your own clan, few of the legal forms of marriage are necessary, or even meaningful. ("OK, we have to decide on which tula we live, what property changes hands, and which clan the kids belong to

• well, duh!") So you could argue that such couples are not 'married' in the strict sense (though somewhat weakly, I feel), but I will gape with undisguised incredulity if anyone tells me they don't exist.

> Unless he was clumsily saying that you can have sex within a clan
> (but not within a bloodline), just not marriage.

If so, then it was clumsy to the point of fairly clearly saying something different... ("I'm sorry, I have a cold.")

Cheers,
Alex.

---