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Interesting Marriage Proposals

BelisariusBelisarius Admin Emeritus
in Heaven
Historical, Literary, or Made-Up welcome.

Possibly apocryphal, but one of my favorites:

After Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia was widowed for a year, he called his secretary into his office.

"You're fired," he stated.

"But, why?" she stammered.

"Because my wife can't work for me."

Comments

  • Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
    I think mine was the quickest. My wife to be and I had only four dates. I had a TDY (Temporary Duty Assignment) to Beale AFB. Wife to be said she would come out to see me. (She lived in St Louis, MO). She came out in July. The night she arrived I took her out to a park on base. It was a warm, quiet night. As we were walking along, I said, "A night like this makes a guy want to propose." She asked if I was serious. I said yes.

    Mrs Gramps and I have been married 49 years.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Irish story. A couple have been 'walking out' for a good few years. The woman decides it's time to move things on.
    "People will be saying we're getting married".
    "Ach away on, sure who'd have us?"
  • HarryCHHarryCH Shipmate
    I especially love the proposal in "Gaudy Night", which is at Oxford and in Latin:

    Peter asks: "Placetne, magistra?" (Does it please you, mistress/teacher?)
    Harriet replies: "Placet." (It pleases.)

    This is actually a sort of echo of a ceremony once used at Oxford:

    Adapted from "The Wimsey Annotations": A ritualized vote is taken as to the worthiness of each student to be awarded a degree. First, an official will propose (in Latin) that the graduates be admitted to the relevant degree; a vote is then taken, although, in practice only, one vote will be cast in favor.
  • March HareMarch Hare Shipmate
    Not really about a proposal, but I've always liked Samuel Butler's comment on the marriage of the curmudgeonly Carlyles: 'It was very good of God to let Carlyle and Mrs Carlyle marry, thereby making only two people miserable and not four'.
  • RockyRogerRockyRoger Shipmate
    March Hare wrote: »
    Not really about a proposal, but I've always liked Samuel Butler's comment on the marriage of the curmudgeonly Carlyles: 'It was very good of God to let Carlyle and Mrs Carlyle marry, thereby making only two people miserable and not four'.

    Nice! It could also be said of some couples we know!
  • BelisariusBelisarius Admin Emeritus
    Edward Causabon's written proposal to Dorothea Brooke in Middlemarch is arguably worse than Mr. Collins's, though Dorothea is naive and idealistic enough to be overjoyed by it.
    https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/145/pg145-images.html#chap05
  • HedgehogHedgehog Shipmate
    I was listening to a disc of old-time radio shows the other day. One of the shows was a game show and the host was interviewing the male contestant. The host asked how the contestant proposed to his wife. Answer: "I didn't, really." Host, taken aback, asks laughingly: "So she proposed to you?" Answer: "No, not really." Host, very confused: "So neither of you proposed?" Answer: "No, we just both felt like we belonged together."

  • North East QuineNorth East Quine Purgatory Host
    Neither of us proposed. We were at the wedding of friends, were chatting about marriage in general terms, and at some point the conversation drifted into talking about us getting married.

    We had been dating 18 months by that point, were both young Christians, and at no point were either of us interested in casual dating. So it was just a natural progression.
  • BelisariusBelisarius Admin Emeritus
    edited October 13
    [Cross-Post]

    To be honest, I'm slightly confused myself--I guess instead of "Will you marry me?", it was "When do you want to get married?".
  • Lamb ChoppedLamb Chopped Shipmate
    Mr Lamb and I were much worse--at some point he simply slid into saying in casual conversation, "After we get married, we should..."
  • BelisariusBelisarius Admin Emeritus
    edited October 13
    Heh.
    Firenze wrote: »
    Irish story. A couple have been 'walking out' for a good few years. The woman decides it's time to move things on.
    "People will be saying we're getting married".
    "Ach away on, sure who'd have us?"

    Punchline aside, at least she now knew how things stood and could take it from there.
  • MarthaMartha Shipmate
    In the book, The Trapp Family Singers, which was adapted into The Sound of Music, Maria has set her heart on being a nun. When the Captain asks her to marry him, she asks to go back to the convent to find out the will of God. Her mother superior tells her she needs to marry and be a good mother to the children.

    She comes back to the Von Trapp house, falls into the Captain's arms in floods of tears, and sobs, "They... they say I have to marry you!"

    Now why didn't they use that in the film? Far more interesting than standard Hollywood romance.
  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    Yes, we too didn't really have any "proper" proposal. However we were on a day trip to Oban and decided en route that we would mark our commitment by dispensing with our sandwiches and going to a cafe for a cooked meal (haggis, which we both like).
  • RoseofsharonRoseofsharon Shipmate
    Not sure how we managed to get engaged without a proposal, but we did. I did tell him later that he ought to ask before we arranged the wedding, but it was a fairly perfunctory request on his part.

    Hedghog's old-time radio show anecdote made me think of Wilfred Pickles' 'Have a Go' show. Hadn't thought about that for years!
  • Lamb ChoppedLamb Chopped Shipmate
    Yeah, ours went that way too. Because when we sat my parents down to inform them, they asked about the proposal--and when they discovered to their horror that there had been none, my stepfather promptly hurled a pillow onto the floor and insisted on Mr. Lamb kneeling on it and doing it "right" then and there!
  • Leorning CnihtLeorning Cniht Shipmate
    HarryCH wrote: »
    I especially love the proposal in "Gaudy Night", which is at Oxford and in Latin:

    Peter asks: "Placetne, magistra?" (Does it please you, mistress/teacher?)
    Harriet replies: "Placet." (It pleases.)

    This is actually a sort of echo of a ceremony once used at Oxford:

    Adapted from "The Wimsey Annotations": A ritualized vote is taken as to the worthiness of each student to be awarded a degree. First, an official will propose (in Latin) that the graduates be admitted to the relevant degree; a vote is then taken, although, in practice only, one vote will be cast in favor.

    The "ceremony" is still current. The senior proctor presenting candidates for degrees still asks the assembled Congregation "placetne?" In practice, the ritual pause to allow for an objection is rather short, and having observed no complaint, the proctor proceeds by announcing "placet".
  • Graven ImageGraven Image Shipmate
    I said yes to the proposal, but did add the question, " I have a date with someone Friday night, is it okay if I still go?" It was an old friend from my hometown who I had not seen for sometime and he was here on a business trip. Not an old flame. My soon to be husband said are you still going to marry me? Oh yes I said. Have fun he said.
  • mark_in_manchestermark_in_manchester Shipmate
    Graven Image wrote: »
    I said yes to the proposal, but did add the question, " I have a date with someone Friday night, is it okay if I still go?" It was an old friend from my hometown who I had not seen for sometime and he was here on a business trip. Not an old flame. My soon to be husband said are you still going to marry me? Oh yes I said. Have fun he said.

    That's really nice :-)
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