HOT LIPS: Holy Grail of the Flirt

“Can I have your picture so I can show Santa what I want for Christmas?” …First buy an ice cream and find a hot girl, then say “I’m sorry to bother you, but your melting my ice cream!” …”What do you say we go back to my crib and do some math: Add a bed, subtract our clothes, divide your legs, and multiply.”…If you’re going to regret this in the morning, we can sleep until the afternoon.”
You must wash your clothes with windex… because I can see myself in your pants!” …”Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” None of these lines made the short list in the latest survey of what are the most successful opening lines…..

---Michael Cunningham, a psychology professor at the University of Louisville, spent many years studying the success rate of various approaches and lines. In the 1980's he sent graduate students out to bars to do "field research" and the findings were not too surprising. He found that the direct approach was the best. The most successful line was, "I feel a little embarrassed about this, but I'd like to meet you." The runner-up line was, "What do you think of the band?" Running a close third was the obvious, "hi," this worked nearly as well as the others. I'm glad they are handing out Ph.D.'s to figure this rocket science logic out. ---

Great pick-up lines:”Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day?” asked Shakespeare. Now, women of the world have replied: “No, just tell me I have beautiful lips.”

A new survey of online flirting by dating website Badoo.com has found that the best Internet chat-up line for men to use is: “You have beautiful lips.” We have found the Holy Grail of flirting,` said Badoo Director of Marketing Lloyd Price. The site, which boasts 87 million registered users worldwide, analyzed the success rates of opening lines from nearly 200,000 online flirtations in 11 languages over the course of one month to come up with a “Compliment Success Index.”

---David Givens, American author of the book Love Signals: A Practical Field Guide to the Body Language of Courtship, said the results made sense because women focus a lot of attention on their lips. "From adolescence onwards, they cosmetically adorn their lips, applying lipstick and colours. They have been doing so since ancient Egypt."---

“Complimenting a woman’s lips was the most successful overall, but other lines worked best in particular countries.American, French, Italian or Brazilian women were more responsive to “You dress beautifully”. British women preferred praise for their legs.Behavioural psychologist Jo Hemmings said women responded best to compliments about their lips because it’s a bold approach that seems more personal.”

Duane Morin:Since I've got them all right in front of me I thought it'd be fun to highlight some real, legitimate Shakespeare lines that could be used to pick someone up at the bar. No joke here, no twisty punch lines. I'm looking at a lengthy list of Shakespeare quotes and it struck me that some sound like pickup lines. You'll have to write back and tell me if any of these worked! * I would not wish any companion in the world but you. * Your heart’s desires be with you! * The very instant that I saw you did my heart fly to your service. * When you do dance, I wish you a wave o’ the sea, that you might ever do nothing but that. Probably only useful after chasing down someone who's just come off the dancefloor. * Who ever loved that loved not at first sight? Yeah, I've heard you want to be careful starting out with the L word. * If love be rough with you, be rough with love; Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down. ...

ADDENDUM:

The full list is reprinted below, for your amusement. ( Kit Eaton )

* U.S.A., France, Italy: “You dress beautifully”
* Canada: “You have beautiful skin”
* U.K., Turkey: “You have beautiful legs”
* Spain, South America: “You have beautiful hair”
* Portugal, Netherlands: “You have beautiful ears”
* Sweden: “You have a beautiful figure”
* Russia: “You have a beautiful nose”
* Poland: “You have beautiful arms”

Edward Phillips. 1658