h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've heard this saying chucked about a few times.

Does anyone think this is true? Can you think of any beautiful women who are lonely/can't pull? The theory is that the men are too nervous to approach them, but there are always people about who will chat up anything after a few beers.

But whats to say that those of us who ain't shy, and do chat up anyone after a beer or before a beer, ever have any sucess

I've never heard anything so silly. Shy people, yes, can sometimes get very lonely. Beautiful women? Dribble. That's like girls in tops cut down to here and push-up bras complaining that people keep peeping down their fronts. 'Oh you have no conception of how we beautiful women suffer...' Well, if it's that bad leave off the slap, eat far too many cakes, wear unflattering clothes and get a horrible haircut. It's quite easy not to be 'beautiful' if it bugs you that much. The fact that they continue being 'beautiful' would indicate to me pretty much conclusively that they are getting something out of it.

I'd always assumed that the point of the saying was that while beautiful women may never want for company, they can never be entirely sure that the company isn't drawn to them purely on account of their physical beauty: that while they may be surrounded by 'friends', they can never be wholly certain of the reasons why those people are 'friends'. I don't know that it need apply only to beautiful women, or even just to beauty, in fact - power or wealth might also be factors.

I'm not saying this works in RL - in fact, I'm pretty sure it doesn't - but that's the sense of the phrase, I think.

Nicely put Aga. And I hadn't thought of that Trin.

What I absolutely hate hate hate is very attractive people saying "I don't think I'm attractive" (often in a winy voice).

Waiting for someone to say "Oh but you are"?

Would like to see the look on their face when someone says "You're right. You're a mess!"

What I hate is giving someone a compliment on their looks, and getting a kind of "well, duh!" attitude.

And yes, if being beautiful is so bad it should be pretty easy to ugly up.

Just came across this thread and wanted to tell Xan that this was beautifully put: "it should be pretty easy to ugly up"

Should it be beautiful women & rich men?

Either can't be sure of the validity of their friends.

...but finds they have plenty of people claiming to be (not that I am either myself but by association I know a handful of each).

Shy men usually manage to find equally shy friends, predominantly male - just never having the khutspa (sp?) to attract a 'mate' in the coupling sense, for very long at least.

i got given a different explanation for that saying.

Beautiful women will be lonely as most men will look at them and say, 'Well out my league that one.' and not even bother to try and chat her up. Where as if the drunks do, could you blame her for choosing to ignore them? Hence she walks around, looking fantastic, which actually makes her unapproachable. Also, when i see a beautiful woman i instantly assume she is with someone else, so consciously ignore her....honest

shy men speaks for itself.

to give an example also, i got this friend who isn't exactly a water painting. he's with an absolute stunner! one of my other friend asked her why she was with him, cos it was confusing us greatly as he's a bit of an idiot as well. she said, 'No-one has asked me out for years'.

for years!!

And what about beautiful men and shy women? eh? eh?

az

never got told that, being a man and all the phrase 'Beautiful man' seems somewhat strange. but yeah, i don't see why that isn't the case these days

I reckon Johnny Depp would fall under that category. Though yes, the more 'appropriate' word is handsome. Probably anyone of either sex being either beautiful or shy might have problems with lonliness, but I think in very different ways.

az

well i'm beautiful and shy so i'm pretty screwed

I don't think the beautiful thing is as much as a handicap as some people think - true, some, like your mate's missus may go for years without even a flutter but sooooooooooooooooo many ladies know what they have and how to use it

The beautiful women who never ever get asked out are not not getting asked out because they are beautiful, they are not getting asked out becasue they are unapproachable, and that frankly is down to attitude and not looks.

So there.

Signed Agapanthus, not beautiful, not ugly, possibly not normal either, gets asked out plenty because of her cheery smile and equitable attitude to buying a round.

I know, I realise that I;m just saying there's not as many of them that are suffering from this as popular myth would have us believe - women are the new men in terms of sexual predation, the natural status quo is returning to how it was always meant to be, biologically

And any woman prepared to buy/serve me alcohol is a shoe in with me Even though I can no longer drink

Yeah, I agree. Beautiful women seem to have an idea that, regardless of their personality or so, the fact they look good make them some kind of elite. So that makes you not want to approach them. I`d rather go for the one with the cheery smile.

"I never met a dame yet that didn't know if she was good-looking or not without being told, and there's some of them that give themselves credit for more than they've got." - A Streetcar Named Desire

On the other hand we are giving credence to a saying that perhaps no beautiful woman would think is true. I can't imagine that being beautiful is a major handicap in finding a partner. Certainly not any more (and probably much less) than the 'non-beautiful' population have to work with.

Also, it takes a lot of work to be 'beautiful' in the sense I think is meant on this thread. As someone mentioned, they could ugly-up if they thought they didn't want to be treated like objects. Or more to the case, they could just stop trying so hard. I used to work with models at one time in my life and the majority really don't look exceptional until they'd had the hair and makeup done to perfection and then slipped into a skimpy little something.

Occasionally you do come across a real natural beauty who totally glows and turns heads and stops traffic without wearing a speck of makeup after just running a brush through freshly washed hair and putting on any old thing. I *really hate* those women!!!

az

My teenage sister's just like that, Az. Even on spotty days. Even when she's just woken up. Even when she's tired and grouchy - she just looks like a grumpy angel. She's a black-eyed Mediterranean beauty and makes Sofia Loren look like a potato. I'm not even jealous, she's too much a force of nature to be jealous of - in fact, she's too lovely to make women standing next to her look worse - she almost makes everyone glow a bit.

And she has no trouble attracting boys and REAL friends, due to her forthright no nonsense attitude and total lack of vanity. Despite her startling good looks, she's easy to approach and chat to as well, because she smiles.