You might assume that if a guy has the forethought to plan far enough ahead to buy flowers in advance for Valentine’s Day that he must be headed in the right direction, but the women at Sango Village Florist in Clarksville know the majority of men are completely and utterly lost.
"I had some guy order something on the internet and it’s the ugliest arrangement ever," owner Courtney Berlyak says.
Courtney can salvage the botched arrangements; however, it is much harder for her to erase from her mind the messages she is asked to write down.
"Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope these flowers get to let me see you naked," Courtney read aloud from one customer's order.
But whether the flowers are for love or lust she always insists on one thing, that the men purchasing them send a card.
"I get very edgy, I’m like 'you’re signing a card! Here’s a pen, sign the card,'" she says about her strict stipulation for guys on Valentine's day.
Flowers may eventually die but lines like this will never be forgotten.
"I love you with all my butt. I would say heart but my butt is bigger," one card read.
"Happy Valentine’s Day, let’s make some babies or at least pretend to," another read.
It turns out Courtney may be on to something with he cards.
"Words have permanence, you write something down it stays for a long time," says Dr. Mickey Wadia, a professor of English who specializes in Shakespeare at Austin Peay State University.
"If you're going to write to a woman in any context, you want to look for an authenticity of voice," Dr. Wadia added.
Shakespeare was original and Dr. Wadia says guys should be too.
"I would urge you to go for the surprise, go for the surprise element don't go for something that's tried and true," he said.
