Explain this dating thing

[Iormlund]

I didn't know you guys had rights on that one.

[Josquius]

do it the British. Get drunk, wake up with a new number on your phone, ask your friends of she was a minger then phone or not as appropriate.

Sadly not really an option outside of the scummier parts of Tokyo with its lowest of denizens.

I (think) I can see where he's coming from. If I'm going out with a girl, chances are I've already shoved my tongue down her throat at a pub and walked away without having my head smashed in with her purse.
That or any other unequivocal sign that this is going somewhere.

I have never experienced the whole 'lets meet this girl I know fuck all about and find out if we're soulmates' thing you see in movies/shows. But I know people who do (mostly older people through online sites).

Yeah, pretty much. The whole asking strangers on a date thing is just weird and alien. You're either already quasi-an-item with somebody having shagged (ortaken major steps in that direction) or its just people who know each other and have hung out as part of larger groups many times before happening to be doing something only the two of them were free for- any mutual interest there may be being left unsaid so things don't get all fake and weird.

[Ideologue]

So, in Europe, do you just ask people if they wanna fuck?  Awesome, and I approve.

I am with you on the paying thing.  Holy Christ, am I.

[Valmy]

I (think) I can see where he's coming from. If I'm going out with a girl, chances are I've already shoved my tongue down her throat at a pub and walked away without having my head smashed in with her purse.
That or any other unequivocal sign that this is going somewhere.

I have never experienced the whole 'lets meet this girl I know fuck all about and find out if we're soulmates' thing you see in movies/shows. But I know people who do (mostly older people through online sites).

Yeah if you are working alot when are you going to go to bars and shove tongues down people's throats?  And what if you want to meet people who do not frequent bars?  And unless you get lucky enough to have an office full of young single people what else are you going to do?  That is when you date people you may not know really well of have never made out with before.

I mean if you are just out meeting potential sexual partners all the time that is awesome.  But even then it is still dating.  There is nothing at all in dating that says you have not already made out or already started a connection at a party or something.  I certainly had dates like that.  It sorta seems like the reputation is blind dates are the only sorts of dates Americans go on or something and that, at least before the age of the internet, was by far the exception.  Usually people met in a bar or at an activity and had chemistry before they actually dated just like it seems you do.  Now with lots of internet dating sites blind dating is more common but that is true everywhere.

But yeah having a date is just going out.  People have 'date night' with their spouse of 30 years for Godsake.

TV only suggested dating was how you met people because they only had the guest star for one episode.

[Grey Fox]

Tyr. Use. The. God. Damn. Internet.

[Ideologue]

Valmy broke that shit down.

[Valmy]

Valmy broke that shit down.

I think Euros have started about 10 threads on this topic.  I am really starting to master my talking points

[Martinus]

Then there is another question whether our entire model of finding a partner/relationship is not fucked up to begin with.

Consider how you become friends with someone - you don't go out to meet people with an objective of "finding a friend" usually - rather the friendship finds you by growing organically. That we use this method to find a partner (rather than letting it happen the same way we become friends with people) is rather silly, don't you think?

(This may be slightly different for gay people as the chances of meeting a potential partner outside of gay bars/gay websites are much smaller, but for straight people, surely you meet enough people of the opposite sex not to need to actually "date" to find a mate?)

[Valmy]

(This may be slightly different for gay people as the chances of meeting a potential partner outside of gay bars/gay websites are much smaller, but for straight people, surely you meet enough people of the opposite sex not to need to actually "date" to find a mate?)

People of the opposite sex?  Yes.  Single people I was interested in of the opposite sex?  That was alot rarer.  Single people of the opposite sex who were looking for a partner at that time and were also interested in me?  That would happen only once or twice a year if I am not actively seeking them out.  Then you find out they do not want kids and you do, they do not want a long term relationship but you do, they are religious and only want to have sex once we are married, they are Dallas Cowboys fans...blah blah blah.

The internet was so much better because they would say all that shit up front.

[garbon]

You forget Marti is a homosexual. They are led by their wanton lustful impulses.

Then a homosexual would just do what Yi said. You wouldn't need to get a number to arrange for sex.

[garbon]

I had a blind date this weekend. It was surprisingly quite good.

[CountDeMoney]

I had a blind date this weekend. It was surprisingly quite good.

Who went down on whom first?

[garbon]

I had a blind date this weekend. It was surprisingly quite good.

Who went down on whom first?

You'd be proud, Mama. All above board.

[CountDeMoney]

I had a blind date this weekend. It was surprisingly quite good.

Who went down on whom first?

You'd be proud, Mama. All above board.

Actually, I'm rather disappointed. 

[garbon]

I had a blind date this weekend. It was surprisingly quite good.

Who went down on whom first?

You'd be proud, Mama. All above board.

Actually, I'm rather disappointed. 

I probably won't see him again.