IT'S NOT ABOUT POLLUTION AND PREDATION...:

Dumb pickup lines are revealing, study says (William Weir, 9/03/07, The Hartford Courant)

Why a study on pickup lines? More than just another opportunity for embarrassment in the pursuit of love, opening remarks reveal volumes about character and also whom the user is trying to attract.

Peter Caryl, one of the study's authors, figured this warranted a closer look.

Most people probably know that a bad pickup line will quickly end the encounter, he says, but "I don't expect that most of them think they're revealing anything about their genes or fitness by speaking to someone new in a bar."

Pickup lines have long been a staple of pop culture, often mined for comedy. In VH1's reality show "The Pickup Artist," a fellow named Mystery (the self-proclaimed world's greatest pickup artist) coaches down-on-their-luck schlubs on meeting women.

But Caryl and his team in Edinburgh have the pickup line down to a science, literally. For the study, 127 women completed a survey to determine their personality types. They were then asked to rate the effectiveness of 40 vignettes, each one describing a scenario of a man trying to strike up a conversation with a woman.

Individuals differed, but extroverted women tended to prefer funny opening lines, and nonconformist women resisted displays of wealth. Chivalry appealed widely; a scenario in which a potential suitor chides drunken louts who cut in line won the hearts of females in all personality categories.

...the carbonaria peppered moth just knows all the good pick-up lines...

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 3, 2007 2:29 PM