Friday, March 16, 2007

Affair, Adultery & Cheating

Silly question, because I guess it is all about semantics but what is the difference between having an affair, adultery and cheating? I hit the American Heritage Dictionary for answers.

Affair - A romantic and sexual relationship, sometimes one of brief duration, between two people who are not married to each other.

Adultery - Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a partner other than the lawful spouse.

Cheating - To be sexually unfaithful

Not a clear distinction from one to the other and not sure a clear distinction can be made. None of these terms take in to account emotional cheating. I consider emotional cheating as to love the person you are with but be in love with someone else. You may never act on this feeling but the fact that your heart belongs to someone besides the person you are with is a crime.

So is there really a difference or is it all semantics?

1 comment:

Mystifiedlady said...

Can always count on MzB for a lucid answer. (you like how I threw in one of the most used GRE words) :)