Premeditated pick-up lines are for the pathetic

After a speed-dating competition with two bro friends, dating columnist Michelle Provencher learned one thing: Only tools use cheesy pick-up lines.

After a speed-dating competition with two bro friends, dating columnist Michelle Provencher learned one thing: Only tools use cheesy pick-up lines.

I always thought Noah Calhoun in The Notebook was a little forward. If you have zero knowledge of pop culture or missed the 2004 love-story blockbuster, stop reading now, and go rent it. For the rest of you, here’s a refresher.

michelle hate the player provencher

Ryan Gosling’s character, Noah, climbs a Ferris wheel to score a date with Rachel McAdams’ character, Allie Hamilton. Desperation is unbecoming on everyone. There is a certain methodology to picking somebody up, and, because I’ve never needed to check my OKCupid account in the eight months since I created it (my alias is HonestAbe4U), I like to think I’m somewhat of an expert.
Most Americans are bad at meeting people.

“Even despite the growing social acceptability of massive alcohol consumption and dance-floor grinding,” you ask? Yes, even with these crutches, people still struggle to talk to dateable strangers. That’s why there’s Match.com.

Group, I want to help you. I want to figuratively sprinkle my pick-up line magic dust onto your brains, then put a little heart-shaped Band-Aid on the incision and send you out into the world to make friends and lovers. I hope this story helps.

I recently had two male friends from my small-town Connecticut high school visit me for the weekend, and we quickly began sharing stories of our romantic endeavors. Following our lengthy rum-riddled pregame, we landed at Cavanaugh’s River Deck on Columbus Boulevard. While I usually don’t spend my Friday nights at an establishment with so many fake tans on one deck, this occasion called for an exceptionally hormonal bar. You see, group, we had arranged a contest of who could pick up the most strangers, my two friends versus me.

They had a game plan: They are in a premeditated discussion and ask a couple of girls for their two cents to settle a debate. The pick-up line: “Who lies more, guys or girls?”

Had any man approached me with such an absurd question, I’m not sure I could reply respectfully, and I would probably just walk away to spare his feelings and my breath. Yet, according to my two friends, this line works every time.

I’ve heard worse in an effort to strike up a conversation, though. Most recently, a friend of mine was approached by a boy who began with, “Are you Puerto Rican?”

Other loser pick-up lines I’ve personally had to endure were, “Would you want to be in a movie I’m making?” and “Do you have a baby? It looks like you could be breastfeeding.” For future reference, calling a complete stranger’s ethnic heritage, porn-making potential or milk production status into question is not an effective way to make a good impression. Ever.

My tactic is more tasteful but unfortunately leaves room for my counterpart to completely wreck it. I scan the bar, find my target, make eye contact and pretend it was an accident by looking down at my drink. A moment later, do the same thing in conjunction with an adorable smile, and he will, I can guarantee, smile back. Drunk people love that playful crap.

The part when it’s ruined comes when he is either stupid and can’t deduce that I’m flirting, or is too scared to introduce himself. If I’m not totally annoyed by this point, I’ll walk over and simply ask his name. If he doesn’t offer to buy me a drink after talking for five minutes, I then excuse myself to find my friends. He’ll ask for my phone number, guaranteed.

The gutsy guys who approached me in the first place are my favorites, but when the contest – and street cred – was at stake, I had to make some serious moves.

I eventually grew bored with my personal game of speed dating at Cavanaugh’s and reunited with my friends. Four men had asked for my phone number in the two hours we played. No girls had asked for theirs. They chalked it up to me cock-blocking them by standing too near and, for a reason they couldn’t supply, that girls don’t need pick-up lines.

My advice to my friends – and to you: Ditch the stupid questions, and just ask, “What’s your name?” It’s my preferred introduction to give and to receive. Just make sure you remember her response.

Michelle Provencher can be reached at michelle.provencher@temple.edu.

6 Comments

  1. Lets be honest 2 guys against one woman in a competition of picking up on someone in various bars It is a no brainer that you were going to win ,even an unattractive out of shape woman has a better chance on picking up on someone than your 2 friends ,but you are right pick up lines are stupid Eye contact is very important ,and a guy buying a drink after a 5 minute conversation is foolish .Truth is in the dating world women have the upper hand now ,thanks to internet social sites ,but they always have ,because women like to be approached ,some men are timid and don’t approach when engaged in eye contact ,and the ones that do usually say the darnedest things.Lets face it a woman can walk into a bar without a penny and drink all night ,any woman at a bar is approached by at least one guy during her visit ,while men in the other hand have to pay for there drinks ,and are rarely approached by women at a bar no matter how good they look .

  2. I agree with Mrgq323, guys def. have it rough when it comes to dating and meeting women. They have to pay to get in, buy their own drinks and then have to put up with the snotty attitude that some girls display when approached. Unfortunately, this persona that some girls have often stereotypically categorizes all attractive woman in the same boat; hence, leading guys to not approach them at all. Furthermore, after reading this column, I get the sense that the author M. Provencher has no clue about the dating world and should be removed as “the dating columnist” for this site.
    I vote for Mrgq323 since she sounds like she has more experience than the author and can give an honest and realistic viewpoint on the current dating world.

    Seriously, “If he doesn’t offer to buy me a drink after talking for five minutes”, if this is your gauge in determining whether guys are dating material, then I suggest you grow up and mature a little further, emotionally…There’s 45 seconds of my life I’ll never get back 🙁

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