Pickup lines as eternal as love itself

FLORENCE - It's one of the most famous - or infamous - aspects of the search for a mate.

Cheesy, corny and more often than not, ineffective, it's the pickup line.

Like many college coeds across the nation, University of North Alabama student Catie Childers has heard her share of them.

"The one I remember most is the Tennessee one," said Childers, having trouble repeating it without laughing.

"It goes, 'Are you from Tennessee? Because you're the only 10 I see.' "

A friend of hers, UNA student David MacMillan, responded by tossing out this one: "Did it hurt?"

"Did what hurt?" Childers asked.

"When you fell out of heaven," MacMillan replied.

Today is Valentine's Day, the holiday of love, so what better opportunity than now to ask about the best (or worst) pickup lines?

And, as Jack Sellers said, it should be pointed out that pickup lines are no new invention.

Sellers emceed the annual Senior Winter Ball this week at UNA's Guillott Center, where the young and young at heart danced the night away.

Sellers recalls his favorite line from his younger days. "I'd say, 'We must've gone to high school together. What is your name?' Then, you've got her name and can go from there."

Other seniors at the dance said the old, "Don't I know you from somewhere?" line used to break the ice.

And breaking the ice is a key goal for the line, said MacMillan, who says you've got to approach it knowing that it's a corny line.

"If it's corny enough, and the girl knows it's meant to be corny, then it works better," he said, adding with a laugh, "It also helps to be cute."

Many lovelorn try pickup lines that include a setup question, followed by the line.

UNA's Grace Mills has heard the classic, "Are you a parking ticket? Because you have fine written all over you."

Jordan Jaggers laughs about, but promises he's never tried, this one: "Are those astronaut pants you're wearing?"

Jaggers says when the recipient of the question asks what's meant by that, the person giving the line follows it up with, "Because your butt is out of this world."

UNA's Matt Rivers never has had the nerve to try his favorite line: "Are you Jamaican? Because your Jamaican me crazy."

UNA coed Mary King rolls her eyes when sharing this "tired" one: "Are you tired? Because you've been running through my mind all day."

Earline Upton was among the senior residents at the UNA dance who couldn't recall any pickup lines. "It's been too long since I've been picked up," she joked.

Clara Cowley recalled a saying from her younger, single days: "It's better to be an old man's darling than a young man's slave."

Patricia Hooker recalls her future husband telling her he's a hooker and would make a hooker out of her. She didn't know he was jokingly speaking of making her his wife and giving her that last name.

Aileen Franks recalls her single days when pickup lines weren't really necessary, because everyone was so close that they hung around and got to know each other.

"Back in our day, we didn't have anywhere to go," Franks said. "We would get a carload together and go to the drive-in and sit out on blankets."

Generally, UNA coeds say, the best idea is to ditch the pickup line altogether.

"Girls aren't that cheesy," Kim Coffey says.

"They don't work. Ever," Mary King says.

" 'Hey, how are you?' works a lot better than any pickup line," student Ashley Johnson suggests.

"Don't try too hard, just be normal. Be yourself," Jordan Amerson recommends.

"I say no pickup lines. They're goofy," Brittney Swafford adds.

Even the guys on campus agree that pickup lines are cheesy. "Just going up to them and talking works better," Blake Garrett said.

Still, if you absolutely can't resist, here are a few more, courtesy of pickup-lines.org.