Re: Items

1

Maybe it's his willingness to hit on more or less anyone, thus increasing his chances of at least some positive outcomes.

Yes, that's it. I'd say "he has no shame or fear of embarrassment" if I was his jealous friend.

One of my friends upped his number of romantic liaisons from an average of 0 per semester to something like 12 in the last semester of college. Nothing to lose.


Posted by: Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 8:49 PM
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Upped his average? Including all those zero semesters? It would take quite a high number in that last semester to get the average to 12, wouldn't it?


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 8:54 PM
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3

Not jealous-- not even envious. Just mystified.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 8:56 PM
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4

Is he a good talker?


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:00 PM
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No. If he were a good talker, I'd totally get it. But I've seen good talkers, and this is not it.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:02 PM
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6

Huh. Does he attract a particular type?


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:05 PM
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7

If you were gay, you'd have spelled Taylor Dayne's name correctly.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:05 PM
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8

DAMN. I checked with google and everything. I knew it looked wrong.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:06 PM
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9

6: Drunk and desperate, mm?


Posted by: Cala | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:08 PM
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10

Labs, can I tell you something:

The (heterosexual) men I've loved most and best have always seemed slightly gay.

I'm using gay in the conventional, somewhat stereotypical sense. I mean, my brother is gay, and he doesn't seem gay at all.

These men I've loved most, they dance with a smile, a beauty to watch, a twinkle in their eyes; they like to decorate their places. They are frequently less aware than most men of what might be called machismo issues. People you can talk to, who aren't hung up. It's so refreshing.

I advise all you heterosexual men to become more gay. If you can figure it out.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:08 PM
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11

parsimon gets it.


Posted by: Witt | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:10 PM
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12

I knew a guy with nothing much going for him who'd hit on ten women a week. He had no shame, no fear of embarassment, and no fear of rejection. His best luck seemed to be with youngish women who were new in town. His luck was pretty good for someone with nothing at all going on.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:10 PM
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I don't know these women well enough to find a common type, other than "hotter than you'd expect."

I retire to my home to ponder the mysteries.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:10 PM
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10: I've read that Aussie men are so straight that they think you're queer if you pay any attention to women at all.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:11 PM
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2: He might be talking about a moving average.


Posted by: JGO | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:19 PM
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Last semester sex is at least as much "I will never see these people again" on the part of women as it is "lack of fear" on the part of guys. Or so it has seemed to me.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:21 PM
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14: There may be something to that.

Gotta pay equal attention to men as to women. We're all equally interesting. Or should be.

Hell, if that's not the case, there's a problem with either you or your friends.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:40 PM
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no fear of rejection. That's the secret, and based on the various comments here and around, the FoR incidence must have increased greatly since the Fifties. I'm thinking of opening a dating clinic for y'all.


Posted by: Biohazard | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 9:57 PM
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frequently less aware than most men of what might be called machismo issues.

This is really the key to the gayish-het-men-are-better thing. Not being hung up on obligatory guy stuff makes one much more open to other things that matter more, for instance, the people who are around you. I have a straight friend who's much gayer than me and he's really a pleasure to be around. I'm trying to pick some gay up from him.

That said, I would really like to land a husband who's a fabulous dresser, because I need the help.


Posted by: cerebrocrat | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:00 PM
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I need the help.

Maybe it's just a phase, cerebrocrat.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:02 PM
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I have a straight friend who's much gayer than me and he's really a pleasure to be around. I'm trying to pick some gay up from him

I love this.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:21 PM
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Hey! I'm hung up on guy stuff, but also like decorating my place. Make room in your worldview!


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:26 PM
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22:

How unselfconciously do you dance?

And do you wear any jewelry?


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:33 PM
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"Items"?! In my day, we called posts like these "".


Posted by: Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:38 PM
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25

Uh, "Two items".


Posted by: Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:39 PM
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26

Scratch the jewelry part. That's just a marker.

Don't force me to think seriously about this, Ogged. It's okay enough if you just walk around your place naked while watering the plants. You have plants, right?


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:41 PM
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27

It's lovely here at the Ocean Breeze Home for geriatric commenters.


Posted by: Standpipe Bridgeplate | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:41 PM
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28

Not only that, in those days comments like 2 were often met with the question, WMYBSALB?


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:41 PM
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If you two country hens are finished clucking, I'd like to buy a copy of Jugs & Ammo and ask a hookup-related question.


Posted by: teofilo | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:43 PM
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30

No plants! No dancing!


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:44 PM
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31

This lawn ain't made for questions, kid.


Posted by: eb | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:46 PM
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32

So you just stare at the walls.

g'night.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-28-07 10:48 PM
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33

I think you should ask him, then post his answer.

Just for research purposes.


Posted by: ptm | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 7:38 AM
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34

I think the guys that have this kind of batting average know how to pay attention to women in a "You're the most marvelous thing ever and I'm not easily won over" vibe.

Without the "I'm not easily won over" qualifier, you just seem creepy. But if a guy makes girls feel like he sets the bar really high and he's dazzled by them...it can be irresistible to a bright-eyed young thing in the spring.


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 9:25 AM
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I think Heebie's right. Being able to dote on a woman without seeming creepy is a rare skill, but amazingly seductive.

Also, maybe he's really good in bed.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 9:33 AM
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I'll ask him. w-lfs-n, what's your secret? I kid, I kid.


Posted by: FL | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 10:08 AM
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37

There's also being sensitive about people's moods. A whole bunch of casual sex happens because the people involved wanted to get laid, rather than because the potential partner was so compelling. If this guy has a knack for picking up on when women he knows are sniffing around for some casual sex, so he knows when to make a pass, that would explain a lot of success.


Posted by: LizardBreath | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 10:13 AM
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I've read that Aussie men are so straight that they think you're queer if you pay any attention to women at all.

Ah, the old "manners of a dancing-master" put-down. Damn those androgynous lotharios.


Posted by: Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 10:13 AM
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re: 37

Yeah, I used to be pretty good at noticing when people found me attractive (and when they found other people attractive). I'd always be the one saying 'She totally fancies you' to the oblivious friend who'd have no clue.

It doesn't make you more attractive to other people but it means you can capitalise on those occasions when they do.


Posted by: nattarGcM ttaM | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 10:22 AM
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10 - I have a great story: so there was this guy working in a coffee shop/used bookstore, and one day he came to work to learn that he had to train a very attractive young woman. So he taught her how to use the espresso machine; where all the coffee beans were; how to shelve books; &c. Over the course of this conversation, he learns that she's recently returned from two years in Italy. He asks her what it's like to be back, and she 1) speaks of how much she misses it and 2) that she has an allergic reaction every time she eats a salad.* The guy -- because he's a militant vegetarian/organic-foods guy -- proceeds to spend the next fifteen minutes extolling the virtues of organic lettuce. As his shift ends, he promises to look into her strange food allergy in more detail and get back to her. As her shift ends, she thinks "what a nice gay man."

And despite thinking much the same thing for the next six months, here we are, today, still married.

*Turns out she acquired a common late-in-life food allergy to mushrooms.


Posted by: SEK | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 11:10 AM
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"The (heterosexual) men I've loved most and best have always seemed slightly gay."

Good point. I think a lot of guys confuse being masculine (which is a necessary condition to be hook up with the straight girls) with being what guys actually need to compete on. You just need enough to show you're a guy, and then its the funny/interesting/good cheekbones that actual makes you stand out. You need a little bit of manishness, but being uber-man doesn't do you any good.


Posted by: yoyo | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 11:16 AM
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39: I spotted my future sister-in-law liking my brother before he noticed. They were coworkers. Alas, I was not able to squelch the relationship. Their kids are cute, though.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 11:56 AM
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40: I'm surprised she didn't think, "what a self-righteous bore."


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 12:04 PM
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43: Well, she rather disliked me for the first 5 years or so, but we've gotten used to each other. I just don't talk about the no-relationship policy.


Posted by: John Emerson | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 12:13 PM
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43: She did. (Though she claims otherwise so as to not hurt my feelings.) But -- and this is the important part -- the gay thing was my in.


Posted by: SEK | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 1:14 PM
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The friend of mine who has the best luck with women has that little-bit-gay thing going on. (He dances, even.) So, Labs, if you can learn to rein it in, maybe you'll get lucky too.


Posted by: Magpie | Link to this comment | 03-29-07 10:42 PM
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