A Little Pick-Me-Up

Is there an airport nearby or is that just my heart taking off?

Are you a parking ticket? Because you've got fine written all over you.

Do you have a raisin? How about a date?

          Trying to get a girl’s attention is awkward. But what better way is there to acknowledge that awkwardness than with a corny pick up line? The corniness in the above pick up lines is apparent. When I Googled pick up lines to use for this post, I did not come across a single one that I would not consider corny in some way. One line that I found, “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” seemed more sweet than corny at a first reading, yet I think even this pick up line could be considered corny. As I’ve stated earlier in this blog, sentimentality and triteness are key indicators of corniness, and this heaven pick up line has both elements. The fact that pick up lines are almost universally corny can also be seen in the way that the term “pick up line” has become almost synonymous with a “corny line”, and they are used more for humor than for actually attempting to pick someone up.

            The corny nature of pick up lines might have developed to relieve the awkwardness involved in striking up a conversation with someone new. By making light of the situation with a corny joke, the person using the corny pick up line attempts generate a laugh from the joke’s recipient in order to relieve the tension. Often a corny pick up line sends the message that the person using the line does not take himself or the line too seriously, making a potentially awkward situation feel more relaxed and humorous. Additionally, the lighthearted nature of these pick up lines implies that the person using the lines does not necessarily expect a serious answer. A laugh would be a perfectly acceptable response to these lines, which makes them good icebreakers instead of inquiries. The person using the line, “do you have a raisin? How about a date?” hopes to obtain a laugh and does not actually expect an answer to his question about a date.

            Of course, the corny nature of pick up lines makes anyone who uses them extremely vulnerable to rejection. The fact that these lines have been used countless times before takes the wit away from them and in most cases makes them entirely ineffective. So using corny pick up lines is a risk. On the one hand, they can relieve the tension by displaying a lighthearted attitude, but they can also indicate a lack of originality, ending the conversation before it even had a chance to begin.