| Atticus Grinch |
10-26-2009 07:39 PM |
Re: Mrs. DTB
Quote:
Originally Posted by tmdiva
(Post 404884)
I would say "Congratulations!", but aren't you supposed to say "Best wishes" to the bride, and "Congratulations" to the groom? Where's DS/BRC when we need her?
tm
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This is true, by which I mean it's true that you're not supposed to, because it's supposedly bad taste to imply that the bride has garnered something by getting her man. Supposedly it comes off like "good job." The fact that the rule did not apply equally to grooms is strong evidence it is obsolete. What you are now congratulating is not the getting of a man, an event that probably preceded the wedding by some months or years anyway, but in the success of the ceremony rather than the success of the relationship.
I think the root of congratulations is something like "(I) rejoice with (you)," so all in all even honoring the existence of that superstition is more sour than the sentiment behind it.
ETA comparing it to "best wishes" shows it to be an even more odious double standard -- it basically implies that women are not the agents of their own destinies, but men are. The marriage came about because of the initiative of the man, who is to be congratulated, but the woman is merely offered a vague well-wishing that it turns out okay? Now that I've thought about it, I am never honoring this tradition again. And I do some crazy shit for auld lang syne.
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