Hilary Watson

It has to be said that there is a certain amusement to be had from the description of Hilary Watson (Tom Watson's wife, as he leads the British Open into the final day).

Yes, we know, marriage is something of a more fluid thing than it was in years past, but this description of Hilary Watson as Tom's "current wife" amuses:

Jack and Barbara — and Watson's current wife, Hilary...

As if wifedom were a temporary state. Which, indeed, it can indeed be:

On that Sunday night, deeply disappointed, Jack and Barbara and Tom and his wife at the time, Linda, had a big hotel dinner with "a couple bottles of wine," Watson was remembering after his Thursday 65.

There is little more to this than an observation about language. We might, recently, have referred to a man's "first wife" and perhaps "second wife" or subsequent wives. Or indeed first husband, first marriage and subsequent ones. This is simply the first time seen in print (by your humble reporter of course) that the phrasing has been "current" as if Hilary Watson's position is something held only for a period of time rather than a position that is expected to be stable over time.