I love you...

Posted by Smokey Stover on September 17, 2007

In Reply to: I love you... posted by Victoria S Dennis on September 14, 2007

: : : What is the meaning of the saying - I love you in my own way?

: : It's hard to say. Maybe: I love you but it is going to take a different form than generally accepted "ways" that two people love each other. Like dating, serious courtship, engagement, marriage, children, growing old together. Being sexually exclusive. Going to the movies and eating popcorn. Taking care of each other. Exchanging Christmas (or holiday of your choice) presents. If someone said that to me, I would be asking a lot of questions.

:
: It sounds like a weaselly excuse to me, much like Ernest Dowson's poem with the refrain "I have been faithful to thee, Cynara, in my fashion", in which he asserts that although he has abandoned Cynara and had affairs with many other women he has never actually forgotten her, and thus has been "faithful to her in his fashion". Huh! (VSD)

Victoria doesn't have to go further than "weaselly excuse." There are many women who could give you a first-hand account of the meaning of this phrase.

There is at least one woman (fictional, to be sure) who has said something similar. Remember Lois, in Kiss Me Kate?

If a custom-tailored vet
Asks me out for something wet,
When the vet begins to pet, I cry "Hooray!"
But I'm always true to you, darlin', in my fashion,
Yes, I'm always true to you, darlin', in my way.

I enjoy a tender pass
By the boss of Boston, Mass.,
Though his pass is middle-class and notta Backa Bay.
But I'm always true to you, darlin', in my fashion,
Yes, I'm always true to you, darlin', in my way.

There's a madman known as Mack
Who is planing to attack,
If his mad attack means a Cadillac, okay!
But I'm always true to you, darlin', in my fashion,
Yes, I'm always true to you, darlin', in my way.

The words and music of the musical are by Cole Porter (first performance 1948). This particular song is based on the Ernest Dowson line mentioned by Victoria.
SS