Gay marriage legal in Denmark

[Admiral Yi]

To answer more seriously Shelf, I don't think lesbians are all that interested in sex.

[derspiess]

To answer more seriously Shelf, I don't think lesbians are all that interested in sex.

Not when they get older, apparently.

[Solmyr]

"Today we allow homosexual couples to enter into marriage on the same footing as any others – something that Socialdemokraterne has fought for many years," Thorning-Schmidt wrote.

I think there is one "for" missing in that sentence. 

No there isn't.

Yes there is. Unless they wanted to say that, for many years, the social democrats have been fighting (against) gay marriage, the sentence should have read "something that Socialdemokraterne has fought for for many years."

Uh, no. If they whated to say that they fought against it, they would have said fought against. Instead, they said that they fought for it, many years. While saying the word "for" twice in a row would not be wrong as such, it's more elegant not to, and the above sentence is grammatically correct, because "many years" is equivalent to "for many years" in this context.

[Martinus]

"Today we allow homosexual couples to enter into marriage on the same footing as any others – something that Socialdemokraterne has fought for many years," Thorning-Schmidt wrote.

I think there is one "for" missing in that sentence. 

No there isn't.

Yes there is. Unless they wanted to say that, for many years, the social democrats have been fighting (against) gay marriage, the sentence should have read "something that Socialdemokraterne has fought for for many years."

Uh, no. If they whated to say that they fought against it, they would have said fought against. Instead, they said that they fought for it, many years. While saying the word "for" twice in a row would not be wrong as such, it's more elegant not to, and the above sentence is grammatically correct, because "many years" is equivalent to "for many years" in this context.

Can a native speaker resolve this? I think Solmyr is wrong.

[Martinus]

What do people mean about the man's role when talking about lesbians?

I get it with gay men, but I've never understood what that means with lesbians.

Are you kidding me?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_and_femme

I assumed it was a sexual thing.  So I meant sexually.

It's actually the opposite. In my experience, the reason why it doesn't ultimately make sense to talk about the "man" and the "woman" in a homosexual relationship is that, unlike the usual fare for straight couples, while homosexual couples fall within these patterns, they are never (or at least very rarely) consistent across the board.

So e.g. the stay at home person may be also more "masculine" and dominant in the relationship, but also be the bottom in sex etc.

[Habbaku]

Generally-speaking, Martinus is right on the issue because that statement is poorly written (spoken, really, since it's a quote), but due to the intricacies of the English language, Solmyr is also correct.

Solmyr's explanation that it is something they "fought for many years" assumes a momentary pause between "fought for" and "many years" to make it mean what it does.

As written, though, it is very easy to see it be misconstrued as saying that they fought against the item in question, so I would say it is clumsy writing.  It makes more sense as spoken, but the quote as-is is confusing.

[Admiral Yi]

I only play a native speaker on TV, but my sense is that it's grammatically correct but sounds a little off.  Like a line David Caradine would say in Kung Fu: "I lived in monastery many years."

[Habbaku]

I only play a native speaker on TV, but my sense is that it's grammatically correct but sounds a little off.  Like a line David Caradine would say in Kung Fu: "I lived in monastery many years."

[Solmyr]

Well I googled "fight for for many years" and "fight for many years", and the former never showed up while the latter did.

[Liep]

"Fought for for many years" showed up though. In 50000 examples even. With one 'for' all the examples on the first page was for fighting against something for many years.

[sbr]

To answer more seriously Shelf, I don't think lesbians are all that interested in sex.

Where do you get that idea?  I know its a small sample size but the 2 I know are the horniest people i know.

[Valmy]

Where do you get that idea?  I know its a small sample size but the 2 I know are the horniest people i know.

I suspect lesbians are not any more or less interested in sex than non-lesbian women.  Which is to say it varies wildly.

But who cares?  They are not interested in sex with me.

[Eddie Teach]

From years of watching the L Word, I can say two things: Lesbians are horny as heck, and there is a tendency for more feminine and less feminine lesbians to pair up.

[Valmy]

From years of watching the L Word, I can say two things: Lesbians are horny as heck, and there is a tendency for more feminine and less feminine lesbians to pair up.

I have to say I know quite a few Lesbians but I do not really think this stereotype holds up...but then I do admit I do not know any super feminine or super masculine lesbians.  They are just...erm....sorta normal.

[Eddie Teach]

From years of watching the L Word, I can say two things: Lesbians are horny as heck, and there is a tendency for more feminine and less feminine lesbians to pair up.

I have to say I know quite a few Lesbians but I do not really think this stereotype holds up...but then I do admit I do not know any super feminine or super masculine lesbians.  They are just...erm....sorta normal.

The lesbians you know probably also have real jobs instead of whole communities working in some form of entertainment or other.