“Suppose, for example, that in the course of a marriage cermemony I say, as people will, “I do”—(sc. take this woman to be my lawful wedded wife). Or again, suppose that I tread on your toe and say “I apologize.” Or again, suppose that I have the bottle of champagne in my hand and say “I name this ship the Queen Elizabeth.” Or suppose I say “I bet you sixpence it will rain tomorrow.” In all these cases it would be absurd to regard the thing that I say as a report of the performance of the action which is undoubtedly done—the action of betting, or christening, or apologizing. We should say rather that, in saying what I do, I actually perform that action. When I say “I name this ship the Queen Elisabeth” I do not describe the christening ceremony, I actually perform the christening; and when I say “I do” (sc. take this woman to be my lawful wedded wife), I am not reporing on a marriage, I am indulging in it…Now these kinds of utterance are the ones that we call performative utterances…Now at this point one might protest, perhaps even with some alarm, that I seem to be suggesting that marrying is simply saying a few words, that just saying a few words is marrying. Well, that certainly is no the case. The words have to be said in the appropriate circumstances, and this is a matter that will come up again later. But the one thing we must not suppose is that what is needed in addition to the saying of the words in such cases is the performance of some internal spiritual act, of which the words then are to be the report.”–J.L. Austin, “Performative Utterances”