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The Proposal · 2009 — Chapter 5 of 14 · 7'27" · B2

Margaret Meets the Paxton Family, Explained: a meal ticket

On the surface it is a joyful engagement dinner. Underneath, Andrew's father is performing a public demolition: "She's your meal ticket and you brought her home to meet your mother." The family toasts a couple that is faking it, and the ex-girlfriend in the room keeps smiling at exactly the wrong news.

What happens

Andrew brings his boss Margaret to his family's home in Sitka and, at dinner, announces they are engaged. His father Joe treats it as an insult, Margaret meets Andrew's ex Gertrude, and when the family demands the proposal story, Margaret invents one on the spot.

Family dinnersProposalsConfrontingTeasingParent & childB2slowamerican
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Listen for

a meal ticketpick up ondotingitching to

00:00 / 07:27
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Phrase of the scene

a meal ticket

a person or thing seen as a source of income

父亲把玛格丽特说成安德鲁的 meal ticket，意思是她不过是他攀附的饭票。

He treats the job like a meal ticket, not a craft.

Also in this scene

  • pick up on

    to notice or understand something, often an indirect hint

  • doting

    showing excessive love and attention

  • itching to

    eager and restless to do something

Everything marked in this scene

26 notes across 150 lines

Phrase · B2some kind of ...Why didn't you tell me you were some kind of Alaskan Kennedy?
Phrase · B2have got to stopThis bickering Bickerson thing has got to stop.
Phrase · B1pretend to be somethingI can pretend to be the doting fianc. That's easy. But for you it's going to require...
Phrase · B2pick the right momentI'll pick the right moment.
Phrase · B2get bombedBesides taking writers out to lunch and getting bombed?
Soundgetting bombed

elision

Besides taking writers out to lunch and getting bombed?
Slang · B2getting bombedBesides taking writers out to lunch and getting bombed?
Phrase · B1no wonder ...No wonder you like being an editor.
SoundNo wonder

liaison

No wonder you like being an editor.
Phrase · C1a hell of a ...That's a hell of a first impression, Dad.
Phrase · B2what the hellWhat the hell, Andrew?
Slang · B2What the hellWhat the hell, Andrew?
Phrase · C1throw the kitchen sink at someoneCan we wait two seconds before we throw the kitchen sink at each other?
Phrase · C1sleep one's way to somethingJust never figured you for a guy who slept his way to the middle.
Grammar · B2who slept his way to the middle

relative clause

Just never figured you for a guy who slept his way to the middle.
Phrase · B2a meal ticket

a person or thing seen as a source of income

She's your meal ticket and you brought her home to meet your mother.
Phrase · B2not a ... personIt's the texture. I'm not a fish person.
Phrase · B1make an announcementLadies and gentlemen, I have a very important announcement to make.
Phrase · B1be about to do somethingAndrew and I were about to celebrate our first anniversary together. Aw.
Grammar · B1were about to celebrate

be about to

Andrew and I were about to celebrate our first anniversary together. Aw.
Soundabout to

flap

Andrew and I were about to celebrate our first anniversary together. Aw.
Phrase · C1be itching to do somethingAnd I knew that he'd been itching to ask me to marry him.
Phrase · B2have the guts to do somethingBecause I knew he wouldn't have the guts to ask, but... That's not exactly how it happened.
Phrase · C1about as subtle as ...This woman's about as subtle as a gun.
Grammar · C1about as subtle as a gun

as-as comparison

This woman's about as subtle as a gun.
Phrase · B2choke back tearsAnd he was choking back soft, soft sobs.

Margaret Meets the Paxton Family, explained

What's really going on

Everyone at the table is playing a part: Andrew and Margaret are selling a fake engagement, and the family is deciding whether to applaud or attack. Andrew's father doesn't buy it for a second — "Just never figured you for a guy who slept his way to the middle" lands before the toast is even finished. When Andrew answers that she isn't his meal ticket but his fiancée, the insult has already done its work. Then the ex, Gertrude, asks to hear the proposal story and calls it a test of character. Margaret, who never got one, has to invent a romance in front of the people who know Andrew best. The toast is happy; the room is not.

Theme

Family conflictA homecoming dinner turns into a duel between father and son in front of guests.
DeceptionThe whole toast rests on a lie, and the family's questions keep forcing the couple to build on it.

What you'll learn

  • Use meal ticket for an economic backer
  • Use about to for an imminent action
  • Hear have the guts to as courage
  • Catch brilliant timing as sarcasm

Listen for

  • getting bombed — elision
  • No wonder — liaison
  • about to — flap
This woman s about as subtle as a gun

Said with a laugh: Margaret doesn't hint, she tells you outright, so claiming he picked up on her signals is the joke.

Margaret will you marry me

The line Margaret puts in Andrew's mouth in her invented proposal, and the whole fake story hangs on it.

Can we wait two seconds before we throw the kitchen sink at each other

Andrew asking his father to slow down before the two of them start hurling every old grievance at once.

Why didn t you tell me you were some kind of Alaskan Kennedy

Margaret's reaction to discovering just how prominent Andrew's family is here in Sitka.

Questions about this scene

Why does Andrew announce the engagement at dinner instead of telling his parents privately?

He needs proof of a real relationship for immigration, and a family dinner gives him an audience he can't easily be questioned in front of. It still goes badly.

Why is Andrew's father so hostile?

He thinks Andrew has been sleeping his way up at work, and that the woman he brought home is his boss and meal ticket rather than a partner.

Is Gertrude really over Andrew?

She says she is and congratulates them, but she is the one who asks for the proposal story and frames it as a test of character, which puts Margaret on the spot.

What does 'meal ticket' mean here?

It is an old phrase for someone who pays your way. Andrew's father uses it to say Margaret is the source of Andrew's money and advancement, not his fiancée.

Did Margaret tell the truth about how Andrew proposed?

No. She invents the whole story — the decoupage box, the hotel note, the rose petals — because there is no real proposal to describe.

The Proposal · 14 chapters

All chapters →
Up next · Chapter 6pulling your legAndrew Brings Margaret Home to Sitka
Chapter 1let someone goMargaret Fires BobChapter 2turn operations over toMargaret Announces a Fake EngagementChapter 3out of your hairMargaret Fakes a Marriage InterviewChapter 4with cherries on topAndrew Makes Margaret ProposeWatching · Chapter 5a meal ticketMargaret Meets the Paxton FamilyChapter 6pulling your legAndrew Brings Margaret Home to SitkaChapter 7from the ground upAndrew Turns Down the Family BusinessChapter 8called it offMargaret Meets Andrew's ExChapter 9take this the wrong wayMargaret and Andrew Trade SecretsChapter 10a shamThe Paxtons Plan a Barn WeddingChapter 11burst into tearsAnnie Gives Margaret the Heirloom DressChapter 12off the hookThe Sham Marriage ExposedChapter 13get my head on straightMargaret Confesses at the WeddingChapter 14dawned on meAndrew Proposes to Margaret
Chapter 5 of 14 · about 43 min to go