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[anthroid]

Navydad,

You can check out Polly here: http://s824.photobucket.com/albums/zz163/deptGeek/CHE%20Meetup%20Pittsburgh%20Aug%204%202010/?action=view&current=IMGP1705.jpg
She's in the back row, second from the left.

Her hubby is pretty hot, too. http://s847.photobucket.com/albums/ab37/BioteacherCHE/CHE%20Pgh%20Meetup/?action=view&current=IMG_4116.jpg Frankly, I don't think Polly is going to leave him. You don't have to worry about losing body parts.

Those photos are TOO funny!

[post_functional]

That's hysterical.

[navydad]

You really are bad at this flirting thing, aren't you?

:~)

Yup. In the real world flirting has a lot to do with eye contact and I don't know how to translate that into squiggles on a screen. Although Polly, who apparently is hot, keeps responding, she has complimented me, and she has offered me help. So maybe I'm not as bad at it as it appears.

I have a soft spot for technical people who at least try because those are my peeps (yes, I'm an engineer who works in polymers).  Many of them find it easier to flirt online because of the lowered pressure to maintain eye contact and the ability to edit a witty remark until it sings.  I know that's what has helped me.

You might be interested in this article, the topic of which was discussed in Meet and Greet at one point to the glee of many technical people here.

That was interesting. I'm a clinical psychologist and I have worked with students on social skills and, yes, flirting, so the article makes sense to me. Many years ago we had a predoctoral intern working with us. She was an attractive woman whose first career was as an actress and I asked her to teach me to flirt. She did nothing overt and after a minute or so I would have sworn she was coming on to me if I hadn't known better. Since I spend a lot of time observing people closely and since I actually had a fair amount of flirting success when I was young and single, it wasn't hard to figure out what she was doing. Since conversation is not particularly difficult for me, I tended to focus on the nonverbals, although I am aware of the importance of conversation to flirting. When I'm working with someone on this, I first determine with him/her how much is a lack of social skill and how much is anxiety. The relationship between the two tends to be circular and self-reinforcing, so generally one works on both aspects simultaneously. I have come to believe that online communication can be a great tool in developing one's face to face social skills, for the reasons you mentioned. Successive approximations and all that.

OK, so I've used humor (or at least, attempts at humor), self-deprecation, and now I turned semi-serious in an attempt to sound smart. How am I doing, Polly? Wanna Skype? :)   

[polly_mer]

OK, so I've used humor (or at least, attempts at humor), self-deprecation, and now I turned semi-serious in an attempt to sound smart. How am I doing, Polly? Wanna Skype? :)   

I never Skype on the first date, but otherwise I would be tempted.

[aandsdean]

"I have no idea what everybody is talking about."

I hereby take credit/blame for starting the musical sidetrack in this discussion, a sidetrack that is loosely and tangentially related to the topic (ok, it's not related). Oddly enough, I've gotten more useful information and links in this sidetrack than in most maintrack (ok, it's not a word) discussions in here. Certainly more interesting than the article that started the discussion. Thank you to all you guitar aficionados.

Interesting that another discussion (about the Chronicle's "anti-faculty" articles) has evolved/devolved into a discussion of literature with some musical sidetracks of its own. Someone please take the bait and offer an interpretation of this phenomenon.

Literature and music DO matter in culture?

[post_functional]

Exactly.

[polly_mer]

I asked her to teach me to flirt. She did nothing overt and after a minute or so I would have sworn she was coming on to me if I hadn't known better. charger Since I spend a lot of time observing people closely and since I actually had a fair amount of flirting success when I was young and single, it wasn't hard to figure out what she was doing. Since conversation is not particularly difficult for me, I tended to focus on the nonverbals, although I am aware of the importance of conversation to flirting.

Plagiarism is never sexy.

[navydad]

I asked her to teach me to flirt. She did nothing overt and after a minute or so I would have sworn she was coming on to me if I hadn't known better. charger Since I spend a lot of time observing people closely and since I actually had a fair amount of flirting success when I was young and single, it wasn't hard to figure out what she was doing. Since conversation is not particularly difficult for me, I tended to focus on the nonverbals, although I am aware of the importance of conversation to flirting.

Plagiarism is never sexy.

OK, but how about learning from someone? Stealing someone's work isn't sexy, but how about using penetrating analysis and expanding on someone's work, while giving credit?

[polly_mer]

I asked her to teach me to flirt. She did nothing overt and after a minute or so I would have sworn she was coming on to me if I hadn't known better. charger Since I spend a lot of time observing people closely and since I actually had a fair amount of flirting success when I was young and single, it wasn't hard to figure out what she was doing. Since conversation is not particularly difficult for me, I tended to focus on the nonverbals, although I am aware of the importance of conversation to flirting.

Plagiarism is never sexy.

OK, but how about learning from someone? Stealing someone's work isn't sexy, but how about using penetrating analysis and expanding on someone's work, while giving credit?

Oooh, I'm definitely in favor of that, particularly, giving lots and lots of credit until the recipient of the credit begs to me to stop.

[mouseman]

I asked her to teach me to flirt. She did nothing overt and after a minute or so I would have sworn she was coming on to me if I hadn't known better. charger Since I spend a lot of time observing people closely and since I actually had a fair amount of flirting success when I was young and single, it wasn't hard to figure out what she was doing. Since conversation is not particularly difficult for me, I tended to focus on the nonverbals, although I am aware of the importance of conversation to flirting.

Plagiarism is never sexy.

OK, but how about learning from someone? Stealing someone's work isn't sexy, but how about using penetrating analysis and expanding on someone's work, while giving credit?

Oooh, I'm definitely in favor of that, particularly, giving lots and lots of credit until the recipient of the credit begs to me to stop.

You start by slowly pealing off the outer layers of metaphor, to reveal the naked, unblemished truth lying just beneath...

[concordancia]

I asked her to teach me to flirt. She did nothing overt and after a minute or so I would have sworn she was coming on to me if I hadn't known better. charger Since I spend a lot of time observing people closely and since I actually had a fair amount of flirting success when I was young and single, it wasn't hard to figure out what she was doing. Since conversation is not particularly difficult for me, I tended to focus on the nonverbals, although I am aware of the importance of conversation to flirting.

Plagiarism is never sexy.

OK, but how about learning from someone? Stealing someone's work isn't sexy, but how about using penetrating analysis and expanding on someone's work, while giving credit?

Oooh, I'm definitely in favor of that, particularly, giving lots and lots of credit until the recipient of the credit begs to me to stop.

You start by slowly pealing off the outer layers of metaphor, to reveal the naked, unblemished truth lying just beneath...

How do you feel about bonding with your students?

[navydad]

You start by slowly pealing off the outer layers of metaphor, to reveal the naked, unblemished truth lying just beneath...
[/quote]

I'll take blemished truth, as long as it's naked and the lights are low.

[mouseman]

I asked her to teach me to flirt. She did nothing overt and after a minute or so I would have sworn she was coming on to me if I hadn't known better. charger Since I spend a lot of time observing people closely and since I actually had a fair amount of flirting success when I was young and single, it wasn't hard to figure out what she was doing. Since conversation is not particularly difficult for me, I tended to focus on the nonverbals, although I am aware of the importance of conversation to flirting.

Plagiarism is never sexy.

OK, but how about learning from someone? Stealing someone's work isn't sexy, but how about using penetrating analysis and expanding on someone's work, while giving credit?

Oooh, I'm definitely in favor of that, particularly, giving lots and lots of credit until the recipient of the credit begs to me to stop.

You start by slowly pealing off the outer layers of metaphor, to reveal the naked, unblemished truth lying just beneath...

How do you feel about bonding with your students?

I'm not really into bondage...

[the_honey_badger]

I'd like to hear what people who teach on delicate subjects have to say about this quote from the article:

"When I have to teach the heavy stuff about race," she says, "I make sure my hair is done, my outfit is cute. I know it's going to be a difficult conversation for students, and if I have a cute dress on, it becomes easier to talk about race and prejudice."

So do cute dresses really make conversations about race easier? Discuss.

Oh, that makes *so* much sense! Seriously, the last person I want to hear from on anything serious is an adult that uses "cute" (esp. in relation to herself) twice in one short reply.