Choosing the Right Words

The most crucial factor in flirting is body language. What you actually say counts only 7% in your success or failure. But your love boat will never float if you don’t first break the ice with an incisive chat-up line. Guides to dating and internet sites provide countless conversation-openers for introducing yourself to attractive strangers.

Unfortunately, most are terrible.

Success with a line like, “That dress looks good on you, but it would look better on my bedroom floor”, takes devastating good looks, expensive designer clothes or fame. The best that most men can expect from this is a slap on the cheek.

To identify the best ice-breakers, a British company surveyed a thousand young adults. The successful lines include “You don’t know me but I dreamt about you last night”, “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” and “Do you believe in love at first sight or shall I walk past you again?”.

But the line guaranteed to bring the best results of all, at least with British women, is “Can I buy you a drink?”. The makers of the survey concluded that the best way to find love is to be simple and direct. But if you are ready to face humiliating public rejection here are some of the more ambitious approaches, “ I’ve lost my phone number, can I have yours?” ; “When they made the alphabet they should have put U and I together.”; “Was your father a thief, because he stole the stars and put them in your eyes?”; “There must be something wrong with my eyes, I can’t take them off you”; “Hi, I need your help! My mom says that if I don’t get a date by tomorrow, she’s putting me up for adoption.”

GLOSSARY:

chat-up line: frase para iniciar uma conversa.

conversation-openers: cantadas