Valentine's Day? No Comment
- Tuesday, February 08 2011 @ 02:54 pm
- Contributed by: Jet
- Views: 1,766
Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching. Since it’s often recommended that we update our online dating profiles seasonally, how should we approach the “holiday of romance”? A witty quip about Cupid? Some reference to wearing red? An excerpt of poetry, perhaps? Or maybe an anti-Valentine’s statement - a dark joke or a reference to the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre?
How about this approach? Stay away altogether. As far away as you can get.
You always run the risk of bringing up negative emotions in someone, somewhere, with anything you bring up in your profile. Even supposedly “safe” areas like national holidays can be tricky - you never know whose dog died on Superbowl Sunday. Typically, you just accept the risk and run with whatever you want anyway. However, when you’re dealing with a holiday celebrating love and romance, on a site full of currently-single people... well, the potential for a miscommunication is substantially higher.
Let’s say you’re a holiday buff and you just can’t ignore a holiday that the grocery stores have been celebrating since Christmas. Let’s consider some of the potential landmines inherent in the typical approaches.
First, the traditional approach: quoting a line from Shakespeare about love, for example. Unless this is entirely within your character - unless you are a highly romantic, over-the-top person every day of the year - it has the potential to come off as cheesy at best, and desperate at worst. It’s even possible your profile won’t be taken seriously because the reader might assume you’re simply trolling for a Valentine’s Day date.
Then there’s the dark approach: the sardonic comment, the anti-romantic joke, maybe something involving Cupid and death. It’s the holiday version of the classic Internet problem: sarcasm. Simply put, what might be hysterical with the right delivery - with your “voice” - is left open to interpretation when this is the reader’s first impression of you. What might have genuinely been meant in good taste and humor suddenly seems angry and bitter. Since there are lots of angry and bitter people around this holiday, it’s not even that much of a stretch.
So, perhaps for just one holiday, it’s best to cast a blind eye. Wax romantic about the coming of spring instead, or a Superbowl Sunday victory (take your chances on the possibility of a dead dog reminder). The reader won’t bring their own Valentine’s prejudices with them as they read your profile. Who knows? By avoiding an opinion about Cupid, you might be giving yourself a shot at love.
How about this approach? Stay away altogether. As far away as you can get.
You always run the risk of bringing up negative emotions in someone, somewhere, with anything you bring up in your profile. Even supposedly “safe” areas like national holidays can be tricky - you never know whose dog died on Superbowl Sunday. Typically, you just accept the risk and run with whatever you want anyway. However, when you’re dealing with a holiday celebrating love and romance, on a site full of currently-single people... well, the potential for a miscommunication is substantially higher.
Let’s say you’re a holiday buff and you just can’t ignore a holiday that the grocery stores have been celebrating since Christmas. Let’s consider some of the potential landmines inherent in the typical approaches.
First, the traditional approach: quoting a line from Shakespeare about love, for example. Unless this is entirely within your character - unless you are a highly romantic, over-the-top person every day of the year - it has the potential to come off as cheesy at best, and desperate at worst. It’s even possible your profile won’t be taken seriously because the reader might assume you’re simply trolling for a Valentine’s Day date.
Then there’s the dark approach: the sardonic comment, the anti-romantic joke, maybe something involving Cupid and death. It’s the holiday version of the classic Internet problem: sarcasm. Simply put, what might be hysterical with the right delivery - with your “voice” - is left open to interpretation when this is the reader’s first impression of you. What might have genuinely been meant in good taste and humor suddenly seems angry and bitter. Since there are lots of angry and bitter people around this holiday, it’s not even that much of a stretch.
So, perhaps for just one holiday, it’s best to cast a blind eye. Wax romantic about the coming of spring instead, or a Superbowl Sunday victory (take your chances on the possibility of a dead dog reminder). The reader won’t bring their own Valentine’s prejudices with them as they read your profile. Who knows? By avoiding an opinion about Cupid, you might be giving yourself a shot at love.
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