How to Write a Personal Column
Hopefully on of your New Year’s resolutions was to stop dating the dippy, commitment-phobic and unavailable, as well as the undesirable types.
The only unrequited love to be tolerated is the love of shoes - and even these should be broken in. There is usually a post-Christmas/pre-Valentine's surge with dating services, personals and onlines. By now it's cutting it fine for this Valentine's but if you're single, there's no time like the present to go in search of cupid's arrow.
Get proactive in the search for Mr Right as it's always nice to have someone make you breakfast in bed and put the bins out.
If you don't want to physically go out and see where he's hiding why not look online or place and ad to find him in the personals? If you do decide to go into print, or see if anyone has put a message in the paper that goes straight to your heart, learn the meaning behind the acronyms. Enough of the mixed signals.
A personal - or personal ad - is one way to find a partner; that, is of course, if you haven't the time to let fate take is course or have been too busy dodging destiny and its attempts to hook you up with Mr Wow. To save space, as much as the applicants' blushes, the ads are printed in code. And guess what, it's even more complex than mobile phone jargon. It’s like the cryptic crossword clues with potentially much higher stakes.
Use this guide to help summarize yourself, as well a decode who is worth getting to know.
A: Asian
B: Bisexual
B: Black
F: Female G: Gay
J: Jewish/Japanese
L: Latino
M: Male/ Man
W: White
W: Woman
BBW: Big Beautiful Woman
BDSM: Bondage and Discipline, Domination and Submission, Sado-masochism
BF: Black Female/Boy Friend
Bi: Bisexual
BiF: Bisexual Female
BiM: Bisexual Male
CD: Cross-Dresser
DTE: Down-to-Hearth
GF: Gay Female (lesbian) Girl Friend
GSOH: Good sense of Humour
GWC: Gay White Couple
GWF: Gay White Female
GWM: Gay White Male
Het: Heterosexual
HWP: Height Weight Proportional (indicates an "ideal" body weight)
IRL: In Real Life (face to face meeting)
ISO: In Search of
LTR: long Term Relationship (no letter)
M4M: Man Seeking Man
M4MW: Man Seeking Man and Woman
M4W: Man Seeking Woman
MOTOS: Member of the Opposite Sex
MOTOSS: Member of the Same Sex
NS: Non-smoking
NSA: NO String Attached
SAE: Stamped Addressed Envelope
SWF: Single White Female
SWM: Single White Male
Str8: Straight (not bisexual or gay)
TLC: Tender Loving Care
W/E: Well Endowed (larger than average male ego)
W4W: Woman Seeking Man
W4MW: Woman Seeking Man and Woman
W4W: Woman Seeking Woman
WLTM: Would Like to Meet
Online dating sites can be a good way to meet people and they are a good distraction for a slow day in the office or in the evening in with a face pack on.... providing you don't have a webcam.
Browse a few dating websites before sending your profile; not only will it give you an idea of the type of people that use the site, it will also help you get the right pitch.
As much as you want to sell yourself, tell the truth. Without pouring out your heart give an accurate, albeit edited account of your personality, hobbies, likes and dislikes, as well as what you are looking for in a person.
You may as well be honest and upfront as you never need meet any of these people. If you don't want long-distance, single-parents, redheads, people who wear glasses or collect snails, that's fine; it's OK to say so (and this way the rebuff isn't their face)
Reveal as much or as little as you want, but caution: never reveal your personal email address or full name as initially it is best to keep a distance.
Use the site to screen things and keep it safe in the browsing-for-boys stage.
Don't fall in love for a photo - appearances can be deceptive. an air-brushed cover shot of them might not be the reality. That said, statistics show that online profiles with a photograph tend to attract ten times the attention. Not putting one up would be the equivalent of going out under an invisible cloak - it's your choice depending on how Harry Potter you feel.
Finally, before clicking send, re-read your profile out loud, or get a friend to. Would either of you date you? Try to be witty, and skip any clichéd chat-up lines that make you sound clingy, desperate and way too available.
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