damianwedding bliss, or something amiss? (part 1)
July 22nd 2008 01:06
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Weddings used to be such simple affairs - you gave them the cow, they gave you the girl, the deed was done and you all lived happily ever after. Unfortunately, these days that could hardly be further from the truth, as weddings have evolved to become lavish extravaganzas that you will spend most of your married life paying off.
So where did we go wrong?
The problems began as the shifting demographics of the population saw more people moving into urban settings where it simply wasn't possible to keep a cow, initiating a certain level of mistrust between families. Thus, the "give me the girl!" / "no, first give us the cow!" scenario became increasingly common. It soon became clear that this simple marriage arrangement was a thing of the past.
The next step in the evolution of the ceremony was the introduction of the marriage broker, whose job it was to negotiate the terms of the marriage between the two parties. The first recorded member of this profession was a man called J.G. Smith, now widely credited with introducing the concept of engagement. Smith's brilliant idea was for the husband to announce his intention to marry, and accompany this with a gift - a sort of downpayment, if you like. In his diary, Smith records the first wedding brokered in this fashion:
"Jack announced intention to marry Susie today, accompanied by gift of half a cow, with the other half to be delivered upon marriage. Unfortunately Susie fainted at the sight of all the blood, but apart from that a successful day."
He goes on in his diary to note that in view of Susie's obvious aversion to blood and guts, the second half of the cow was subsequently delivered as a meat platter. What Smith failed to take into account though, was the fact that the wife's family were strict vegetarians and had wanted the cow for its milk. In the wake of this debacle, he was promptly sacked and took up flower arranging, never to work as a marriage broker again.
to be continued..
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Comment by TimmyH
Tech News
Can you HACK it?
Genyration
I thought my wife's old man was going to spring for it?
Comment by damian
Urban Telegraph
Sports and All