If only Chaucer knew what he was starting with this 1382 couplet** about couples:
For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.***
Chaucer, horny poet that he was, had no idea that his simple tie-in of the typical February fertility rituals with a feast for St. Valentine of Rome would spawn thousands of cards, millions of roses, billions of chocolates (undiscovered in his time), and trillions of dollars over the next few centuries. He surely would have opted for profit-sharing.
*Singles' Awareness Day.
**Ol' Geoff was just trying to kiss up to the king, Richard II, who was celebrating his one-year anniversary to Anne of Bohemia; Their Royal Majesties were 15.
***In regular English: "choose" his "mate." Even birds were paternalistic.
For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.***
Chaucer, horny poet that he was, had no idea that his simple tie-in of the typical February fertility rituals with a feast for St. Valentine of Rome would spawn thousands of cards, millions of roses, billions of chocolates (undiscovered in his time), and trillions of dollars over the next few centuries. He surely would have opted for profit-sharing.
*Singles' Awareness Day.
**Ol' Geoff was just trying to kiss up to the king, Richard II, who was celebrating his one-year anniversary to Anne of Bohemia; Their Royal Majesties were 15.
***In regular English: "choose" his "mate." Even birds were paternalistic.
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