Tie the knot.

Helene was born and raised in France with her mother and her sister.  Her father currently lives in Toronto, Canada.  She came to America for the first time in 2008 when she was moving into her dorm room at USC in Los Angeles, California.  She is a Civil/ Environmental Engineering student and is diligently working towards her bachelor’s degree.  She is considering going to law school after she graduates in order to ultimately practice environmental law.

Helene says that she had never heard of this phrase before she came to USC.  She says that when she heard it, she was with a few of her friends where one of them stated that her sister was “tying the knot” in a couple of months.  When Helene stated that she did not understand, her friends explained that the phrase meant that her sister was getting married.  Helene doesn’t understand how this particular phrase can mean the act of getting married, and she thinks it doesn’t make any sense.

I have heard this phrase before.  I do not remember when I first heard this phrase, but I think it was probably when I was in junior high.  I think I may have heard it in a movie. I heard through other people that the reason the phrase “tie the knot” means getting married is because many wedding ceremonies require the bride and groom to have a string attached to each others wrists to bond them together in an “unbreakable bond.”

Martin, G. (1996). Tie the knot. Retrieved from http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/tie-the-knot.html