Honey, This Smile's For You

Every morning on my way to work I play the “radio game.” Though others may not be familiar with it, I am highly familiar with its terms, and for me, it goes something like this: change the radio station to find the best song currently on (basic). But the part that constitutes as the game for me, is the later and later I happen to be for work, it starts becoming, “change the radio station every time you’re stressed about being late for work”; though I cannot control how late I am at that point in my morning, I can control the music. This brings me satisfaction.

This morning I was notably early and because of this I was listening to almost full songs. Actually I went so far as to keep it hanging on a particular radio station 1.2678 seconds after the song had ended to hear the announcer say something, that for reasons not all entirely known to me, cracked me up. The announcer proceeded to highlight a recent study from the University of Indiana where research discovered that guys are notoriously awful on picking up on signs if girls like them.

Eye-batting, hair twirling, coy smiles, this stuff may have worked in 1926 (think pre-depression prairie days). But in 2009, the effects are much weaker.

This was cracking me up because I was thinking about how funny girls can be showing “the signs” and how dense guys, at times, can be in picking up the signs (disclaimer: I’m not saying guys are dense). I was just envisioning that girl in Bio 101, 8:00 a.m. class who laughed in her not morning volume of a giggle (yes, my laugh is loud, too I realize) at some guy who’s joke was not funny to anyone else. All the other females catch onto her attraction like a hitchhiker-weed to socks, but the guy just really thinks he’s on a funny streak.

Of course for the ego-ready male, not much more than a passing smile may do the trick, but for the shier, sweeter sorts, encouragement such as continual love-glazed smiles, may only lead them to believe “she’s a very cheerful girl.”

Looking on the actual website at the statistics, it’s evident that 8% of woman got the signs wrong vs. 12% of men; though this number is noteworthy, it’s not astonishingly significant. Besides, who am I to know, maybe it’s always been this way. Perhaps Cindy-Lou rode side-saddle on her horse 20 minutes out of her way just to pass Jerry everyday-- waiting for him to notice her. While Jerry just thought she had to take that particular route every day.

Aw, love. You can’t help but laugh at it just a little.

Here's the article: http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/men-are-daft-picking-body-language