I Love You Historically

January 17, 2011 9:28 AM

I need ways to say "I like you" or "I love you" (to a girlfriend) from various periods in history.

I say "I like you" rather often to my girlfriend, and I get the feeling that it's loosing its meaning. My remedy for this is to express the same sentiment in the language of earlier times. I've started using decades (eg. "You're groovy," for the 1960s) and would like to continue that, but I'll accept anything so long as I am able to tie a time period to it with reasonable precision. (She'll ask which time period is represented by each statement.) I'll take them as far back in history as you can give 'em.

posted by cmchap to writing & language (14 answers total)

Use the language of flowers.
posted by muddgirl at 9:34 AM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

Thou stirrest my loins. - circa 1773.
posted by dougrayrankin at 9:44 AM on January 17, 2011

bangwI’ SoH - Klingon Home World, 2346.
posted by dougrayrankin at 9:53 AM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

Perhaps helpful, the phrase "making love" had a different meaning than it does now. Up to the late 1800's - turn of the century, it implied the act of wooing someone, not directly referring to intercourse.
posted by elendil71 at 10:01 AM on January 17, 2011

Tell her she's the rompin' stompin' living end!
Or the bee's knees.
posted by NoraCharles at 10:29 AM on January 17, 2011

Was also going to say the bee's knees (20's)
posted by zug at 10:40 AM on January 17, 2011

Have you considered other languages also?
posted by jellywerker at 11:59 AM on January 17, 2011

At words poetic, I'm so pathetic
That I always have found it best,
Instead of getting 'em off my chest,
To let 'em rest unexpressed,
I hate parading my serenading
As I'll probably miss a bar,
But if this ditty is not so pretty
At least it'll tell you
How great you are.

You're the top!
You're the Coliseum.
You're the top!
You're the Louver Museum.
You're a melody from a symphony by Strauss
You're a Bendel bonnet,
A Shakespeare's sonnet,
You're Mickey Mouse.
You're the Nile,
You're the Tower of Pisa,
You're the smile on the Mona Lisa
I'm a worthless check, a total wreck, a flop,
But if, baby, I'm the bottom you're the top!

Your words poetic are not pathetic.
On the other hand, babe, you shine,
And I can feel after every line
A thrill divine
Down my spine.
Now gifted humans like Vincent Youmans
Might think that your song is bad,
But I got a notion
I'll second the motion
And this is what I'm going to add;

You're the top!
You're Mahatma Gandhi.
You're the top!
You're Napoleon Brandy.
You're the purple light
Of a summer night in Spain,
You're the National Gallery
You're Garbo's salary,
You're cellophane.
You're sublime,
You're turkey dinner,
You're the time, the time of a Derby winner
I'm a toy balloon that’s fated soon to pop
But if, baby, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!

You're the top!
You're an arrow collar
You're the top!
You're a Coolidge dollar,
You're the nimble tread
Of the feet of Fred Astaire,
You're an O'Neill drama,

You're Whistler's mama!

You're camembert.

You're a rose,
You're Inferno's Dante,

You're the nose
On the great Durante.
I'm just in a way,
As the French would say, "de trop".
But if, baby, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!

You're the top!
You're a dance in Bali.
You're the top!
You're a hot tamale.
You're an angel, you,
Simply too, too, too diveen,
You're a Boticcelli,
You're Keats,
You're Shelly!

You're Ovaltine!
You're a boom,
You're the dam at Boulder,
You're the moon,
Over Mae West's shoulder,
I'm the nominee of the G.O.P.

Or GOP!

But if, baby, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!

You're the top!
You're a Waldorf salad.
You're the top!
You're a Berlin ballad.
You're the boats that glide
On the sleepy Zuider Zee,
You're an old Dutch master,

You're Lady Astor,
You're broccoli!
You're romance,
You're the steppes of Russia,
You're the pants, on a Roxy usher,
I'm a broken doll, a fol-de-rol, a blop,

But if, baby, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!

-- Cole Porter
posted by trip and a half at 12:14 PM on January 17, 2011 [7 favorites]

Oops. Maybe I should have linked -- sorry for the length.
posted by trip and a half at 12:18 PM on January 17, 2011

Bei mir bist du schoen.
posted by Sys Rq at 2:54 PM on January 17, 2011

Give her father some goats.
posted by Mchelly at 4:24 PM on January 17, 2011 [3 favorites]

Tell her she's the cat's meow (20's).
posted by pluot at 5:39 PM on January 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

"You send me."
posted by stuck on an island at 2:34 PM on January 18, 2011

"Baby, you're the greatest." - 1950s

(Granted, the language isn't particularly time-specific.)
posted by Sys Rq at 3:55 PM on January 18, 2011