Marrying a rock

[snopes]

Comment: James Frayn's new novel "Bright Shiny Morning" mentions (p.277 of
the UK edition) as supposed fact that "It is legal for humans to marry
rocks in the City of Los Angeles. The first such marriage occurred in
1950, when a secretary at an auto parts factory named Jannene Swift
married a large piece of granite."

Naturally, Fray ("A Million Little Pieces") is scarcely a reliable source,
but a Google search on the Jannene Swift name reveals this supposed "fact"
is retold on numerous internet sites and in several newspaper archives,
though usually dated to 1975 or 1976. In some sources the piece of rock is
stated to have weighed 50lb.

Aside from its intrinsic implausibility and lack of any effort on the part
of these sites to supply a logical reason for such a piece of law to
exist, I note that a Google News search of all dates fails to reveal an
earlier publication date for the story than the late 1990s:

http://news.google.co.uk/archivesear...wift%22&cf=all

I imagine that such a marriage probably would have made the news back in
1950/1975/1976 if it had in fact occurred.

Perhaps you could discover more about where and why the story originated?
There are many other such pieces of wedding lore.

(Also discussed here.)

[Eve MG]

I can't link because I'm responding from my iPod, but there is a woman who has a webpage about her relationship with and marriage to the Berlin Wall. Google objectum sexual Berlin wall, and her page should be first. She does a pretty good job explaining her feelings. When I was searching, I also saw articles about another woman who apparently married the Eiffel Tower.

[Dropbear]

So, if I get the schist of this, she married a rock who she took for granite.

Dropbear

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Not a whole lot odder than people marrying trees...

Silas

[Embra]

Originally Posted by Dropbear

So, if I get the schist of this, she married a rock who she took for granite.

Dropbear

Very gneiss.

[Eddylizard]

How would you consummate the marriage? Who would go on top. What about kids - would they truly be 'a chip off the old block?'. At least he's dependable - he's her rock to cling to, and he doesn't snore in bed. Would she be jealous or worried if she caught him looking at pictures of the Venus de Milo or Michalangelo's David?

It would never work, one of them would always be just sitting around all the time, stoned.

[jw]

I dunno. What female wouldn't want to marry, The Rock?

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by jw

I dunno. What female wouldn't want to marry, The Rock?

Beat me to it!

[TrishDaDish]

The Rock is Teh Awesome. I refuse to call him by his birth name. NEVER!

[Canuckistan]

Well, first you let people marry rocks, then next thing you know, they'll be humping mountains and sleeping with mud. This immoral practice has got to stop!

[SatansHobbit]

Originally Posted by Canuckistan

Well, first you let people marry rocks, then next thing you know, they'll be humping mountains...

Even Mohammad couldn't make one of those things come.

[Dropbear]

Originally Posted by Canuckistan

Well, first you let people marry rocks, then next thing you know, they'll be humping mountains and sleeping with mud.

Or caressing the Grand Tetons.

Dropbear

[Ana Ng]

Originally Posted by SatansHobbit

Even Mohammad couldn't make one of those things come.

Good one.

[RivkahChaya]

To be ever so slightly serious-- how did it pass the blood test they had in the 1950s? you can get blood from a, well, you know....

No, really; I see a fundamental problem with consent here.

[Dropbear]

Originally Posted by RivkahChaya

No, really; I see a fundamental problem with consent here.

Consent was implied - it didn't say no and stayed hard.

Sedimentary my dear RivkahChaya.

Drop-I've been waiting to use that one for days-bear