That Was No Woman

For the most part I'm averting my eyes sorrowfully from the whole silly John Edwards-Rielle Hunter brouhaha, but I have to make note of today's Times article and its lede:

Former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina said Friday that he had an affair in 2006 with a woman who was not his wife. But he denied that he was the father of her baby, who was born in February, about a month after Mr. Edwards dropped out of the race for president.

I hate to quibble over trifles but the word "affair" inflexibly denotes a relationship with a person you are not married to. That's just what an affair is. It works the other way too—you simply cannot have an affair with a woman who is your wife. I'm just sayin'.