Marriage certificate no further details given. On 5 September 2005, the Registrar General in England and Wales officially abolished the traditional terms of "bachelor" and "spinster" and substituted the more politically correct "single" to coincide with the reform that introduced civil partnerships, explaining, "The word single will be used to mean a couple who has never been through a marriage or civil partnership." Unlike birth and death registrations, the local (church) copies of marriage registers for churches are treated as ecclesiastical records and thus are deposited in diocesan record offices or county record offices (often but not always the same office) when
Spinster reappropriation from third-wave feminists. Recent examples include several blogs/videos, such as reclaimingthepejorative, a "Bitch Magazine" article, and the "Spinster House" YouTube channel. Many classic and modern films have depicted stereotypical spinster characters. For example: In both "The Taming of the Shrew" (early 1590s) and "Much Ado About Nothing" (late 1590s), William Shakespeare referred to a contemporary saying that it was the fate of women who died unmarried to lead apes into hell. By the time of the British Regency, "ape leader" had become a slang term for "old maid". It is often used in that context in Regency romances and