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July 11, 2007
50 First Date Questions
Everybody knows that first impressions make the difference between a long lasting bond and a quick dismissal. That's not to say that first impressions are set in stone (and lord knows that former enemies can often become friends), but no one wants make an ass out themselves when they hook for the first time with their objects of affection. When it's time to make small talk, there's some first date questions which inevitably come up - some of them are cliche, some of them reflect a good conversation, and some questions should be avoided at all costs. Making chit chat is one of those dating essentials that one -has to cover if one wants move on up and above the first date jitters.
The old stand-by questions will probably be a part of first date conversations for the rest of time, but that doesn't make them any easier to answer. The first and most obvious one is "What do you do for a living?" There's an overwhelming temptation to make up fanciful b.s. when answering this one - either by inflating the importance of whatever one does for a living (trashman = sanitation engineer), lying completely (trashman = day trader) or just messing with the head of whoever is listening (trashman = Russian astronaut). Better to err on the side of truth with this one, as tempting as it may be to describe yourself as a lion tamer for the Cirque Du Soleil.
The other standard question usually revolves around the former love life, a.k.a. the relationships-from-hell conversation. This is definitely not the time to talk about how much you miss your ex - that's one dating faux pas that's pretty difficult to get yourself out of. On the other hand, you don't want to seem like the jilted lover from Fatal Attraction when you're running down the list of bad boy/girlfriends.
Then there's some questions you want to avoid completely - "Are you going to pay for dinner? What kind of relationship do you have with your parents? How well do you think this date is going? Tell me the truth - am I stupid?" Dangerous dating signs should be visible a mile away, although it's hard to know when to can the small -talk chit chat and start talking about deeper stuff. Waiting in line for the movie is not the time to start asking penetrating questions about the psychological background of your date.
Of course, if you have any sense of intuition you probably won't need a silly blog entry like the one you're reading. Being natural and easy-going is frequently hard irritating work, but keeping the conversation light and frothy isn't too much to ask for on the first date.
Posted by Glen at July 11, 2007 2:13 AM
