Timeline for Is there an idiom for "proposing her for marriage"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 26, 2021 at 11:31 | comment | added | BeginTheBeguine | In the UK I don't think you'd ever use 'bend' in the context of an engagement. You'd say "he went down on one knee". | |
| May 3, 2020 at 13:15 | comment | added | Jeff Morrow | @David42 I think the main point is that we both agree on the final sentence of your most recent message. The historical development and social messaging of the two phrases is not likely to address the concern of the OP interesting as they may be to us. | |
| May 2, 2020 at 15:58 | comment | added | David42 | Yes, but I was not making a distinction between bowing to lords and bowing to ladies. My point was that a man getting on his knees to propose marriage is not acknowledging his intended as his ruler. And while I understand the possibly origins of kneeling in ideals of courtly love in which the intended is "mistress of his heart" whom he begs to command him, I can find no sign that the set phrase "bend the knee" has been used except to connote submission to a literal ruler. Thus I concluded that the accepted meaning of this expression does not fit the situation. | |
| May 1, 2020 at 13:27 | comment | added | Jeff Morrow | @David42 You are correct that "while bending the knee" is also a stock phrase. But the reason that it is not appropriate here is not meaning. It is simply that it is not a standard phrase when used with proposals of marriage. The meaning is not restricted to a gesture of submission to a male superior. One goes (or went) to one's knee when presented formally to a queen. Symbolically, the social meaning of proposing while on one knee was exactly to represent emotional submission. | |
| Apr 30, 2020 at 23:36 | comment | added | David42 | "Bending the knee" actually is a stock phrase. The problem is it does not have the intended meaning. It refers to humble submission to one's lord. | |
| Apr 26, 2020 at 22:12 | history | edited | Jeff Morrow | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 230 characters in body
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| Apr 26, 2020 at 22:05 | history | answered | Jeff Morrow | CC BY-SA 4.0 |