Page 151 - Patrick Moreau - Marine Knots How to Tie 40 Essential Knots

In the middle of the nineteenth century, in the United States, when a whaler was
courting a girl that he was in love with, he gave her a special kind of knot that
she had to give back to him.
Depending on how she returned the knot to the whaler, it would convey her
feelings toward him.
If the knot was almost undone, the guy didn’t have a chance. If she gave it
back to him as it was, without tightening or loosening it, it meant that she was

just a good friend. However, if she gave the knot back to him tightened with the
two little hearts tied together, it meant that she was “spoken for,” and that it was
time to weigh anchor and spread the news.
Since that time, it has been called the lover’s knot.