Elector Wants ‘paramour’ label to stay

Press, 23 November 1981, Page 2

Elector Wants ‘paramour’ label to stay

PA Masterton . The registrar of electors for Wairarapa, Mr Lindsay Wratt, is not fazed by the registration of a woman who describes her occupation as “paramour” .on the Wairarapa electoral roll. “I don’t have any authority to challenge anyone’s occupation — they, can call themselves prostitutes or professional gamblers or anything else,” he said. “I am only interested in the occupation if the word used to describe it is too long.” But the “paramour” label was not apparently accepted coolly by the Justice Department, which was handling

the electoral rolls at the time the Masterton woman enrolled. Courthouse officials tried to persuade her to change her occupation, according to the woman’s husband.

The discovery of a "paramour” on the roll was made by a somewhat intrigued vi- ‘ car, who telephoned a reporter. The reporter telephoned the “paramour,” who lapsed into uncontrollable laughter when the subject was broached and her husband had to come to the rescue.

“My wife was unemployed at the time she enrolled,” the husband said. “She decided to

describe herself as paramour. If you look up the Concise Oxford Dictionary it means loved one or sweetheart and, that’s what she is.”

The reporter had already consulted the; Shorter Oxford. This adds that the meaning has changed' with time and now a paramour has become “the illicit partner of a man or woman.”; •

The reporter explained the newer interpretation but the husband was unimpressed. “We are going by the old meaning. She is a lover or sweetheart,” he said. "The courthouse people tried to dissuade us when she enrolled, but we decided to stick to it.”