ag5@pucc-k (Henry Mensch) (01/07/85)
<<>>
Have you ever noticed that, whenever a couple gets
married, the Master of Ceremonies (whether minister, Justice of
the Peace, or motorcycle mechanic) always says something stupid
like "I now pronounce you 'man and wife'."
It seems to me that a more intelligent thing to say
would be "I now pronounce you 'husband and wife'" or something
of that ilk.
My question is: does anybody have a *reason* why they
do it like they do? <i.e., has the woman changed significantly
now that she's a wife? ;-}>
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Henry C. Mensch | User Confuser | Purdue University User Services
{ihnp4|decvax|ucbvax|purdue|uiucdcs|cbosgd|harpo}!pur-ee!pucc-i!ag5
BITNET: HCMENSCH@SUVM CSNET: hcmensch@syr-cis-aos
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"If you can't be good, be careful.
If you can't be careful, give me a call..."edhall@randvax.UUCP (Ed Hall) (01/10/85)
> Have you ever noticed that, whenever a couple gets > married, the Master of Ceremonies (whether minister, Justice of > the Peace, or motorcycle mechanic) always says something stupid > like "I now pronounce you 'man and wife'." > > It seems to me that a more intelligent thing to say > would be "I now pronounce you 'husband and wife'" or something > of that ilk. I've heard ``husband and wife'' used on several occasions. I actually find it more offensive than ``man and wife'', as the term ``husband'' could equally be used to describe the owner of cattle. The ``man and wife'' version essentially means ``man and woman''--which is pretty prosaic; I suspect that the intended meaning is ``man and his woman''. We shouldn't be surprised that the traditional marriage ceremony doesn't portray spouses as equals. Anyone know of some more modern alternatives? (Maybe I should ask this of net.social.) How about the history of the ``traditional Christian marriage ceremony''? -Ed Hall decvax!randvax!edhall