So, for instance, maybe this was a way out of an arranged marriage she didn’t want. That would’ve worked even if the prospective groom said “17” as a joke.
I’m reminded of how Heinlein, in Expanded Universe, suggested that maybe people should have to give the roots of a quadratic equation in the voting booth before they could vote.
Sounds like the groom was mentally handicapped, and his family was keeping that a secret (the article mentions another case where a family was hiding significant medical information about a prospective spouse).
This seems like a prudent test for people entering into arranged marriages.
You know, Rochester could have really simplified his later love life if he has simply quizzed Bertha Mason on some times tables or perhaps some inkblots.
I think they should have to conjugate “to lie” (meaning recline), and “to lay,” explain the differences in meanings, and what transitive and intransitive verbs are.
Yes, I just heard someone use it wrong again. You know how people say “I wish I had a nickel for every time […]” For me, […] is “people saying ‘laying’ when they mean ‘lying.’”
Or, perhaps the groom was not happy with the bride that was selected for him by the parents. When asked a simple arithmetic problem to seal the deal, he saw an easy way out and flubbed it on purpose.
Me neither. That’s one set of verbs I always have to look up/double check to make sure I’m using the correct one. And in speech, forget it. It’s just a guess, but nobody cares what verb I use in casual speech. Don’t know why, but that rule just doesn’t stick to my brain. I can call up fine details of AP Style and the such without needing the reference book, but those two words I always have to look up.
I’m also interested in the part, later in the same article, where another bride had her groom go into a seizure and collapse at the altar. As he was being rushed to the hospital, she supposedly asked one of the wedding guests to step in and marry her. That seems either awfully convenient or awfully odd, at least to this Westerner’s eyes. Could it be that she, too, wasn’t happy with the arranged marriage custom, knew someone she actually was interested in (or loved), that person was invited to the wedding, and she took advantage of the moment to marry her own choice? Seems there’s more to that story than the few sentences relegated to it explain.
