This is a part of a discussion between two people on the topic of the acceptance of gays in society:
Person A:
No problem with people doing whatever the f–k they want…but the whole marriage thing is a little iffy, but I dont care enough to want to stop them.
Person B:
How is it iffy?!?
Person A:
It's iffy because it opens the pool of false marriages for financial or other gain, such as citizenship, ect. like I said, i dont care enough to want to stop it, but from a governance point of view, it may cause expanded abuse. my argument has nothing to do with morality or whatever other "emotional" sentiments.
What's the meaning of pool mentioned in person A's remark? I've looked it up, but was unable to find a definition that's relevant to the context.
Best Answer
Person A seems either to be confused or to be using poetic language, as the meaning is not clear in itself but seems to reference a number of meanings and idioms:
Merriam Webster gives the following definition of "pool":
The meaning of "pooled resources" in definition 6 is related:
In 4, "pool" is used to describe the group, rather than the individuals (like water in a swimming pool). The idea of "pooled" in 6 is similar: resources have been collected together (again, think of water in a pool).
So it seems that Person A is wanting to refer to a collective group of people committing false marriage, but they may have mixed this up with the ideas of
and
I think ultimately they used "pool" to give a sense that the group of people doing this (or who would do this) is quite large, and/or that they are a collective - a group with the same ideas and principles rather than individuals, AND that marriages would be "opened up to" a situation in which they happen falsely (for financial gain, etc) and/or that gay marriage equality would be like "opening a can of worms", which would cause problems.