It's actually possible she thinks he is awesome and likes to set people up. Brides often spend a LOT of time thinking about who to seat with whom when they are planning a wedding. Also, who's to say she isn't thinking about the ladyfriend feelings of the women she's trying to hook him up with?

No offense meant. I just wanted to make sure.

Were they bemused or amused?

I'm not sure what point of mine you are addressing. Women, in general, do not overtly approach men to anywhere near the extent that men overtly approach women. That is true for online dating and offline, at least in my experience in my area (Northeast US).

I don't know where you live; there are some places in the world, including some in the US, that are more or less blighted. In the US, there is enough geographic mobility that most people should not have to stay in a blighted area. It happens, but rarely.

I wouldn't mind reading your rebuttal.

And what about the risk to, for example, your Achilles tendon when jumping down from a box?

I probably would ask. But I should be clear: the article itself really pointed out my shortcomings, rather than a potential partner's. Unfortunately, my desire for a family is based in unrealistic expectations, and I probably wouldn't make a very good husband.

If you can't be handsome, be handy.

Some of the responses to this article are terrifying.

I have no interest in using these kinds of arguments to make normative claims, or participate in any kind of moral panic.

I hate using the term, but it feels tyrannical. It is natural and expected for parents to have rules, and it is natural for privileges to be contingent on following the rules. Making a contract like this seems farcical, however; as if you're trying to convince your child that this is really something they are agreeing…

I hated stupid "contracts" growing up. Because let's be honest with ourselves - when a child argues (essentially) "you are punishing me (or yelling at me) for something that is not within the four corners of this contract I signed," we all know that most parents aren't going to listen to it.

I didn't take it out of context at all - you put forth the argument that the superiority or inferiority of an education is measured by how well it met the desires of whoever pursued the education, as though, with Protagoras, man were the measure of all things. You've moderated that stance a bit by now saying that an…

I actually quoted exactly what I was talking about before starting the discussion.

I was much more interested in your instrumental approach to determining inferiority and superiority of education. My point, however, is that a liberal education has non-economic benefits that you don't acknowledge.

If someone goes to college to get an accounting degree to get a job in public accounting, and what they learn at college gets them the job that they wanted to get, how is that inferior to a degree that teaches them critical thinking skills that doesn't give them a pathway into public accounting?

No questions right now, but congratulations on winning the genetic lottery and turning out gorgeous.

a true critical thinker would say that an education is only superior if it's better at achieving whatever the person who pursued the education's goal was in pursuing an education

What is odd to me, as a guy who has used the term "friend-zoned" before, is that I have never associated it with anger. The theory underlying the term has always been (for people I know) that once you have been labeled a friend, it is difficult or impossible to develop a romantic relationship with the woman. I find it…