What price romance?
Topic: Misc.
Do you read lonely hearts ads? I do, mostly for amusement value. However I also think they provide insights into a society and its culture. I've noticed in British ads for example that any mention of race is generally placed by someone who wants to date someone of a different one (lots of black women wanting white men) while in the US, it's mentioned by people wanting the same (SWF wants SWM).

I also can't help noticing when women use the words 'solvent' to describe their target man. Technically I qualify, as my assets exceed my liabilities. But it still rankles me to see the word in an ad, as it suggests that something beyond companionship is being sought.

At Craigslist London, the personals are full of American women looking for British men. Most are in the US and are planning a trip to Britain in the future. I can't understand why they don't just wait until they get here. What's the point in worrying about it six months in advance? But the personals page is also used by frustrated people to ask what is wrong with the opposite sex. Today I found a classic example:

http://london.craigslist.org/w4m/152630472.html

A 40-year old single woman asks: "what’s so wrong in wanting to share what’s happened in your day with a partner, to want to spend time getting to know someone without leaping into bed. What happened to good conversation being fun enough?"

I've never written back to someone on that page before, but today I decided to do so in order to explain something very obvious to me - that heterosexual men do like sharing what's happened in their day and having good conversation. They have male friends with whom they can do that. What they can't do with those male friends is leap into bed. QED?

In my case, I would love to have more conversation with women, but the topics I like talking about are things that most women don't talk about. With my male friends it's poker, politics, military history, the economy, conflict in the middle east, the horses and football betting. We virtually never talk about the things that feature in women's magazines - nutrition, haircuts, fashion, emotions or sex. I guess we find the external more interesting than the internal.

But that wasn't all I said to the frustrated 40-year old. I simply had to point out that she'd mentioned money in the first sentence "We all know there are those men who have enough money...". She couldn't write eleven words without slipping it in. No wonder she can't find what she's looking for. If you're going to discriminate on grounds of wealth, then at least be subtle about it!