Poll: What is your marital status?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Sep 2, 2005

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What is your marital status?".

View the poll here

A forum topic will appear each time a new poll is run. For more information, see: http://proz.com/topic/33629


 
ENGSOL
ENGSOL
German to English
+ ...
What is your marital status? Sep 2, 2005

AmusedNath wrote:

Married, with children
Married, no children
Engaged
Single, never married
Single, formerly married



Does "not married, no children, not engaged, not single, never married, never been engaged, in a long-term relationship" also count as a marital status?

Thomas


[Edited at 2005-09-03 10:01]


 
Charlie Bavington
Charlie Bavington  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:01
French to English
Yet another poll with incomplete options Sep 2, 2005

Yup, none of the options provided apply to me either.

Someone with the merest modicum of knowledge about how surveys work ought to check these polls before they get released into the wild


 
Joanna Krahelska
Joanna Krahelska
Local time: 08:01
Polish to English
+ ...
again... Sep 2, 2005

Charlie Bavington wrote:

Yup, none of the options provided apply to me either.

Someone with the merest modicum of knowledge about how surveys work ought to check these polls before they get released into the wild


would be nice
I had to choose an option that made no mention of kids (the kid didn't notice, luckily), but the options left me wondering about all those single mothers - none at all among translators?! am I the only one?!!
the best, jk


 
Clare Barnes
Clare Barnes  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 08:01
Swedish to English
+ ...
Single mums Sep 2, 2005

Yup, I needed the divorced-mum-with-a-part-time-live-in-lover option... sigh...

I had a student yesterday who is apparently registered with the Swedish social insurance agency as a "divorced widow" (ie she got divorced and then he died).


 
Henry Dotterer
Henry Dotterer
Local time: 03:01
SITE FOUNDER
You aren't supposed to think too much about these... Sep 2, 2005

As I wrote in the initial posting concerning quick-polls, these things should not be regarded as scientific, they are intended only to encourage conversation and basic exchange of information. Just pick the answer closest to yours (or don't pick one at all) and view the results.

If one wants to get technical, however...

The current poll does provide a complete set of options concerning "marital status". Where it gets unscientific is where it begins to collect informatio
... See more
As I wrote in the initial posting concerning quick-polls, these things should not be regarded as scientific, they are intended only to encourage conversation and basic exchange of information. Just pick the answer closest to yours (or don't pick one at all) and view the results.

If one wants to get technical, however...

The current poll does provide a complete set of options concerning "marital status". Where it gets unscientific is where it begins to collect information beyond the scope of the question. In the case of "married", it seeks to know whether or not one has children. In the case of "single", it seeks to find whether or not one has been maried previously, or is planning to marry (without concerning itself with children). So really, it is three polls in one.

Now, if we were a market research company, we would break the poll up into three questions. The first might be something like:

What is your marital status?
[ ] Married
[ ] Not married


We would follow that up with an additional survey asking about kids (Do you have children? [ ] Yes [ ] No), and one more asking about former marriages or planned future marriages.

Personally, I would find the scientific approach a bit boring for our purposes. And besides, it would take three poll cycles. I prefer to publish the unscientific poll with its interesting little twists... as long as no one takes them too seriously!
Collapse


 
Marcus Malabad
Marcus Malabad  Identity Verified
Canada
German to English
+ ...
not too seriously Sep 2, 2005

Henry wrote:
Personally, I would find the scientific approach a bit boring for our purposes. And besides, it would take three poll cycles. I prefer to publish the unscientific poll with its interesting little twists... as long as no one takes them too seriously!


Yeah, Henry, but even your scientific poll above leaves out somebody like "me". Minority rules!
M


 
Kirill Semenov
Kirill Semenov  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 09:01
Member (2004)
English to Russian
+ ...
Some thoughts... Sep 2, 2005

Leaving aside discussions about the wording of the poll, I was really shocked to see that almost one third of my fellow-translators are single and never married.

I would like to see some global statistics on how many people are single and never married in the world -- but, people, do you think it's somehow affected by our profession? Isn't it a ticket to loneliness sometimes?

[Edited at 2005-09-02 19:51]


 
Marcus Malabad
Marcus Malabad  Identity Verified
Canada
German to English
+ ...
stuck in the bedroom Sep 2, 2005

Kirill Semenov wrote:
Isn't it a ticket to loneliness sometimes?



It's not exatly a glam profession, Kirill. You're stuck the whole day at home in your pajamas (and sleep in your eyes since you stayed up the entire night). You haven't seen the sun for two days since that deadline is looming over your head and it's hell to pay (and a lawsuit) if you miss the darn thing. Your friends are all frolicking in the weekend - or playing beach volleyball - while you're stuck with a stupid washing machine manual. The only people you meet are your condo super, your cleaning lady and the occasional store manager when you go out to forage for food outside your lair. You come back with sixpacks of Diet Pepsi, which are a joke of course since "diet" has had no effect on your waistline for ages as it has a mind of its own. Lately it's suddenly decided to divorce you for your culinary negligence, so it has ballooned from the 30 inches from your svelte days of your mid-20s to 34 inches now that you're in your mid-30-ish-sheesh (ok, 40...darn!). Shocking! You don't fit into those hot Levis you bought last year so it's been baggy chinos lately, which doesn't help really when you go pick up your date. She won't call you back of course so you're stuck again with your washing machine manual.

In short, you should've studied law and become a hotshot divorce lawyer.



Marcus
(happily attached with someone who looks past the Doritos and Pepsi products)


 
Kirill Semenov
Kirill Semenov  Identity Verified
Ukraine
Local time: 09:01
Member (2004)
English to Russian
+ ...
Oh my... :) Sep 2, 2005

Marcus Malabad wrote:
Kirill Semenov wrote:
Isn't it a ticket to loneliness sometimes?


It's not exatly a glam profession, Kirill. You're stuck the whole day at home in your pajamas (and sleep in your eyes since you stayed up the entire night). You haven't seen the sun for two days...


Oh, Marcus, what a gloomy picture. You certainly know how to cheer up people on Friday evening! Luckily, I married my wife when I was not yet a freelancer, so she's just starting to suspect some strange things... Adding that Stephen King is my favourite writer is probably too much for this rather warm (here), and quiet, and pleasant evening (here) at the season when the summer (here) comes to its end.

Anyway, many thanks for your encouraging message! (*creepy*)

[Edited at 2005-09-02 20:56]


 
Textklick
Textklick  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:01
German to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Kiss the computer good night Sep 2, 2005

Henry wrote:

Now, if we were a market research company, we would break the poll up into three questions. The first might be something like:

What is your marital status?
[ ] Married
[ ] Not married




Henry: to be precise, there are are three: married/single/divorced.

It is not without sadness that I have observed a few relationships breaking up among friends/colleagues. To what extent that has to do with our profession I know not and I have no desire to be an alarmist.

Must dash - I hear a voice summoning.

Ciao

Chris


 
Parrot
Parrot  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 08:01
Spanish to English
+ ...
Was that Dragon Speaking Back? Sep 2, 2005

Textklick wrote:

Kiss the computer good night

Must dash - I hear a voice summoning.


Sorry, couldn't resist it


 
Rebecca Hendry
Rebecca Hendry  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:01
Member (2005)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Age is a factor too. Sep 3, 2005

Kirill Semenov wrote:

Leaving aside discussions about the wording of the poll, I was really shocked to see that almost one third of my fellow-translators are single and never married.

I would like to see some global statistics on how many people are single and never married in the world -- but, people, do you think it's somehow affected by our profession? Isn't it a ticket to loneliness sometimes?

[Edited at 2005-09-02 19:51]


I'm only 24, give me a chance!


 
Textklick
Textklick  Identity Verified
Local time: 07:01
German to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Pieces of Eight Sep 3, 2005

Parrot wrote:

Sorry, couldn't resist it


Hola, sweet Parrot. Not quite so...

KING HENRY VI
"The bird that hath been limed in a bush,
With trembling wings misdoubteth every bush;
And I, the hapless male to one sweet bird,
Have now the fatal object in my eye
Where my poor young was limed, was caught and kill'd."

It was of course a doleful reference to my bedside reading


Chris


 
Henry Dotterer
Henry Dotterer
Local time: 03:01
SITE FOUNDER
Use your own definition of terms Sep 6, 2005

Textklick wrote:

Henry wrote:

Now, if we were a market research company, we would break the poll up into three questions. The first might be something like:

What is your marital status?
[ ] Married
[ ] Not married




Henry: to be precise, there are are three: married/single/divorced.


I disagree; logically speaking, one is either married or not married. The only way I can think to complicate the issue is to at once apply two definitions of marriage. To avoid this confusion in the future, please apply your own definitions for any terms used in future polls.


 


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Poll: What is your marital status?






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