When they ask you like that…
just so we're clear here. When you ask someone to propose to you, you're asking them to propose to you, there's a place and a time for doing a haha funny this is actually not linear thought processing, for example you're in a car, i'm waiting for you to pick me up so i tell you "run me over when you see me" that would obviously be a joke.
you ask someone what their thoughts on marriage are, if you're curious what their thoughts on marriage are, the english language isn't hard. If you have to do it multiple times, maybe you should probably, idk, ask more forwardly.
to be clear OP is probably a bit of a dumbass, but to be clear, it's not their fault.