Awful, dreaded wife

The other morning I was talking to the 10 year old, and he asked me "Why do they say awful, dreaded wife?"

I was at a complete loss as to what he was talking about, so I asked for some clarification. "Where did you hear that?"

"On the marriage thing. They always say, do you take this woman to be your awful, dreaded wife?"

So I explained to him the words lawful and wedded. And then spent the next five minutes laughing my head off.