It was a Shotgun Wedding

“Tom and Susan just got married”.
“Oh, how wonderful.”
“Well, I’m not so sure about that. It was a shotgun wedding.”

Beginnen wir mit unserem kleinen Englisch Kurs Online. Let’s start today’s Online English lesson.

A shotgun wedding means, that the couple HAD to get married. Nowadays, at least in most western cultures, shotgun weddings are not as common as they used to be. In other, more traditional cultures however, shotgun weddings are still very important, mostly for the bride. Without a wedding, she faces social and personal disaster.

So, what is a shotgun wedding?

A shotgun wedding happens when the bride is pregnant out of wedlock. She is not married, but is expecting a baby.

Kleiner Englisch Kurs: Ein “shotgun wedding” ist eine “Muss-Heirat”. Die Braut ist schwanger, der Vater des Kindes “muss” sie heiraten. Eine Situation, in der die Hochzeit unter Druck geschieht. Früher war das Druckmittel tatsächlich häufig ein Gewehr oder eine andere Schusswaffe, die sich in den Händen des Brautvaters befand, der damit die Ehre seiner Tochter und der Familie “wiederherstellte”.

In days gone by, this was a huge problem, mostly for the woman. Being an unwed (unmarried) mother resulted in social stigma and significant negative consequences. So, when a daughter got pregnant out of wedlock, her father often forced the man who made her pregnant to marry her. This actually happened at gunpoint on a fairly regular basis.

Thus, the wedding took place with a shotgun more or less aimed at the bridegroom, in order to save the bride’s (and her family’s) honor.

As time went by, the actual shotgun was replaced by other forms of threat. But, basically the essence of the “shotgun wedding” is a marriage, where the groom has caused the bride to become pregnant and is forced to do “the right thing by her”. He might be forced to marry the woman by her family, by his own family, or by both families.

Mit der Zeit wich die Schusswaffe anderen Druckmitteln, aber der Begriff “shotgun wedding” blieb. Nach wie vor mit der Bedeutung einer Eheschließung unter Zwang.

In time, the force by families took on less significance, and any wedding which was caused by an unexpected pregnancy became known as a shotgun wedding. So, even a wedding where both parties actually want to get married, but where a pregnancy plays a role, can be termed a shotgun wedding.

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