crazyml
Posts: 5568
Joined: 7/3/2007 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: CallaFirestormBW quote:
An engagement ring is a statement about a future that WILL happen. I beg to differ... having been engaged twice and having had that engagement NOT end in a wedding (once by my choice, once by the other person's), an engagement ring is NOT a guarantee of marriage. It -is-, in fact, a notice to family, friends, and the general public, that marriage is being seriously considered, not that it was -assured-. I beg to differ with your differing... An engagement is a promise to marry in the future. It is not a statement that marriage is being seriously considered - it is a promise that it will happen. It is no longer a legally binding promise, nor is it a promise that people take all that seriously these days, but it is a promise. The concept of engagement as opposed to Betrothal (which is a completely different kettle of fish) was introduced 1215 in at the Fourth Lateran Council, which decreed that "marriages are to be ... announced publicly in the churches by the priests during a suitable and fixed time, so that if legitimate impediments exist, they may be made known. (http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Betrothal). quote:
On a historical note, that also meant that the couple would also be sleeping together, and essentially living as man and wife, since in most cultures up until the 1500's (and some still today), a marriage that would not produce offspring could not be sealed nor would it be sanctioned... so if the woman wasn't pregnant by the time the wedding date rolled around, that wedding wouldn't happen. This isn't accurate at all. Some cultures had the concept of a "trial marriage" which is quite distinct from an Engagement or a Betrothal. Marriages had to be consumated, and in some cultures lack of offspring might be grounds for divorce, but the notion that people in most cultures had to get up the duff before getting their marriage could be sanctioned is simply not true. quote:
So there is a precedent in looking at the 'consideration' collar as an 'engagement ring', if one is pre-disposed in that direction. To me, it is more like the probationary period in a new position, where the new individual figures out whether this is a position xhe can live with, and the new employers decide whether or not this individual is going to fit in with their project model and the requisite duties... but that's just me, and I am notoriously not romantically inclined. Dame Calla I think this is a pretty good take on the "consideration" collar as it happens.
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