| Alisha: Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha. And, today, I'm joined by… |
| Michael: Michael. Hello. |
| Alisha: Today, we're going to be talking about English pick-up lines. Woohoo. Some of these are going to be some pick-up lines as well as just some kind of general discussion about dating and relationships. Maybe do's and don'ts to some degree from perhaps our own experiences. Let's begin. I think I might have written down more than you for this one. |
| Michael: Are you an expert in the subject? |
| Alisha: No, I'm not an expert but I just had a lot of things popped up into my mind. Okay. I'll start with one that I feel like is kind of a classic one for both men and women, to some extent. It's the phrase, "Can I buy you a drink?" Not necessarily good nor bad, I don't think, I feel like this is one if you just walk up to somebody out of nowhere and say this, it's a little weird. I feel like if you talk to the person for a while, maybe the conversation is going well, and then, you say--I've actually had this experience talking to somebody for a while, I just met them but we were talking and I'm enjoying the conversation, "Can I buy you a drink?" and we'll continue talking. That's fine, in that case, it wasn't weird. What are your thoughts on this phrase, "Can I buy you a drink?" |
| Michael: Yeah, I spaced it. I didn't think about that. But, yeah, that is like a classic, perfect example, that what you're saying is has an undertone. Everyone knows, "Can I buy you a drink?" means I like you romantically. I want to spend time with you without saying that because that's just kind of weird. So, you say, "Hey, can I buy you a drink?" I'm not so experienced on this one, maybe because I'm not the nicest, most classy fellow. But, for me, it's just, "Let's take a drink together. Let's take some shots," you know. But, in the movies and the people that are very--you know, like the suit, I think, it's a charming way to say it, "Hey, can I buy you a drink?" Or, maybe, even to order the drink and, "Hey, can you send it to her?" and kind of like nod and smile, something, you know. Basically, it just makes it more complex, more romantic. Because, if you just come up and say, "I like you," "I want to kiss you," it just sounds kind of weird, right? So, you say--you kind of like slowly… |
| Alisha: Yeah. |
| Michael: Pick-up lines, this is one that's just kind of cheesy and you say it as a joke now but, "Did it hurt?" So, you go up to a girl or a guy or whatever your preference and you go, "Hey, did it hurt?" And, that person says, "What do you mean? What are you talking about?" Oh, hey! Then you say… |
| Alisha: "When you fell from heaven?" |
| Michael: Because you're an angel, you're just a beauty. And then, you go… |
| Alisha: This is a really stupid one. Really, really, stupid but, yeah, it's a great example. It's a great example. |
| Michael: I think this is also like the archetype pick-up line. There's a bunch of these, I'm sure you've seen them go online, there's a ton of punch line but this one I think is like the most common one that I see in here. |
| Alisha: But, I wonder if anybody has ever seriously tried to use that. Actually, probably. Don't. |
| Michael: The do's and don'ts, don't use that one. |
| Alisha: Don't use that one. It's funny to think about. It's a funny sort of silly thing but, oh my gosh, how dumb. Someone's going to write a comment on this like, "I try to do this, it was really successful for me." |
| Michael: "That's how I met my wife." |
| Alisha: Okay, keep doing that thing. Let's see. I'm going to go to the next one. I'm going to go, okay, I'm going to go to a concept about dating. But, I think it's related to pick-up lines and related to meeting people and that is the concept of a "wingman." A wingman or a wingwoman, I guess. I tend to just say wingman for either female friends or a male friend. Anyway, when you're at a restaurant or you're at a party or whatever it is, there's that other person or another group of people or whoever that's there to back you up, to support you. So, if you go, "I'm really interested in this guy," "I'm really interested in this girl," and they say, "I'm going to go over there and talk to them," or, "I'm going to go find something out." They're there to support you so that you don't embarrass yourself. So, having a wingman or wingwoman can be very, very useful when you're first getting to know somebody, I think. Is a wingman important for you? |
| Michael: Essential. I think this is a--I didn't even think about it. I spaced it. I think part of it. And, there are different ways you can do this if you're a loser and have no friends. What you can do is if you like someone, instead of going directly to them, again, it kind of comes off as desperate or whatever, you talk to the person next to them. So, let's say you like the girl and she has a guy next to her, you would talk to the guy first and the group. You don't just go to the girl against. It's basically this whole dating thing is all just kind of putting up a mask and just trying to not seem so crazy because, for some reason, you can't just go, "Hey, I like you. Let's kiss." That's just weird, right? You have to kind of mask it. So, a wingman helps make things seem more casual. So, they're there to just kind of make you look good. They help you out. They don't fight to try to steal the person you're trying to date. They're like, "Oh, man. Alisha's awesome. She's so funny, she's great." And then, the person that she's trying to get, the guy she's trying to date goes, "Yeah, you know what? You're right." It just kind of makes it seems like less desperate, I don't know. If I were to go to a girl and just say that, it just seems kind of weird. |
| So, similar to the wingman, I mean there's a bit of a culture with wingman in pick-up lines and this kind of thing and it's called, "the game." The phrase I was going to say is, "spit some game." So, maybe, you've heard this. This is like--what is that called? An extended metaphor and spit some game is when you try to pick someone up. This is kind of like more modern slang. Wingman, I think, it's pretty universal, everyone knows that. But, spit some game is more modern and it's just, "Hey, I'm going to go spit some game at this girl." I'm going to try to pick her up. |
| Alisha: So, "spit" coming from like speak or talk. |
| Michael: Right, right. |
| Alisha: Right. |
| Michael: But you don't actually spit on the girls. |
| Alisha: Please don't actually spit on anybody. Yeah, go spit some game. |
| Okay, let's go to the next one. These, I feel like are perhaps some lead-ins. Their conversation starters. I feel like they're both kind of classic and they're not necessarily special but they're just ways to start a conversation with the person next to you. The first is, "Come here often?" "Do you come to this place often?" And, "What are you drinking?" So, these two are just like really, really simple icebreakers. "Come here often?" I feel like is little--I don't know. I don't feel like this gets used much but, "What are you drinking?" I've had people ask me this. But, if you can clearly see what they're drinking--like you have a branded beer in front of you, this is a really dumb question to ask. But, maybe the person just ordered an interesting cocktail or maybe a nice beer and you're wondering what it was or just you want to show that you're curious and want to talk to that person but you don't want to seem like, "Hey," then, you can say, "What are you drinking?" That can be a nice lead-in to a conversation. |
| Michael: "Do you want to hang out?" |
| Alisha: Yeah, I remember. You did say this? Yeah. |
| Michael: My generation is lazy. We don't have the chivalry, we don't have the romantic gesture, buy her roses, you just pay or hang out. It's a little boring. |
| Alisha: Yeah. I think it's much more casual now. To ask someone out, it's not so much like, "Let's go to dinner and a movie." It's more like, "Do you want to get a coffee?" |
| Michael: Right. |
| Alisha: Yeah. It is quite casual, I feel now. Yeah, nice, okay. I don't have anything else because I put my last things together. Do you have anything else? |
| Michael: This one. "Hey, girl." So, this is kind of—again, it's getting more and more subtle. When you say, "Hey, girl," you know that that means you're about to say something, you're about to spit some game, you're about to kind of flirt. |
| Alisha: What I'm hearing in my head is like a Justin Timberlake song that he starts with this. |
| Michael: ♫ Hey, girl… ♫ Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about. Well, yeah, that's a good one. If you say that, it's pretty obvious, you're trying to get with whoever. |
| Alisha: Yeah, "Hey, girl." I will say that nobody really says, "Hey, guy." |
| Michael: Hmm. |
| Alisha: There's not really--is there a male variation of that? "Hey, dude." |
| Michael: Yeah, but it doesn't have the same--that's not romantic when you say, "Hey, dude." Yeah, it doesn't. |
| Alisha: "Hey, dude." Yeah, it doesn't really sound that way. "Hey…" |
| Michael: Handsome! "Hey, handsome." |
| Alisha: Oh, handsome. Handsome. Yeah, you could use that but you probably--if you say that, you're going to sound really, really straightforward. Maybe a little bit too much. So, if you go into with that, the other person— |
| Michael: You could say anything. With that face, you could say anything that just like, "Do you like potato?" |
| Alisha: "Cinnamon, cinnamon bits?" I got some mixed--never mind. I was going to say— |
| Michael: Oh, yeah. I don't want to say that. |
| Alisha: Sorry, I was looking there. There's a bag of mixed nuts on the table and that's the first thing saw. Okay. Oh, I'm going to embarrass myself. |
| So, those are—Wow, we talked about some pick-up lines, we talked about ways to not ask someone out, ways to ask someone out, ways to start a conversation, ways to continue a conversation. So, go out and spit some game. Do you have any last tips or do you have any other tips for dating? |
| Michael: No, ma'am. Horrible. Don't take any of my advice. |
| Alisha: Both of us are terrible at all those things. All the things we just talked about, we're terrible at because we are human. |
| Well, okay, give them a try if you like. Good luck with that. Let us know how it goes if you try it out. I would love to hear those stories. That would be fantastic. Thank you very much for joining us today for this episode of English Topic and we will see you again soon. Bye. |
Comments
Hide