The passage of the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act in 1949 banned marriages between white and non-white South Africans and nullified existing mixed race marriages. It was amended in 1968 to invalidate South African citizens' interracial marriages even if the marriage had been officiated in another country. The South African public largely agreed with anti-miscegenation laws, and existing Apartheid legislation already ensured that racial groups were largely segregated and rarely able to interact as equals. Prior to the passage of the law, only 0.23% of all marriages in the country were mixed race as a result of this segregation. Most resistance to the law came from churches, who argued against state intervention in the institution of marriage. However, the law was unchanged until 1985, when the government passed the Immorality and Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Amendment Act to repeal the ban.
Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
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