Wednesday

RNDP 2: Hooking Up?

Google's next hit in our quest for a Revolutionary New Dating Paradigm (RNDP) is an article called Sexuality, Reproduction and Menopause : Editorial: the new sex in ... Although we cannot see the article because it is behind a pay wall, Google tells us that it says:

The new dating paradigm is to get together casually, called “hooking up,” a term that defines a lack of commitment or expectations other than sex and ...

4d Analysis: Unfortunately, I blew my research funds on a bottle of tequila and couldn't afford to buy this article. They might be on to something, but isn't "hooking up" what fuck buddies did in the 80s and what free-love hippies did in the 60s? In other words, not new?

RNDP 1: Feminists in the Office without Chivalry

The first place Google takes us in our quest for a Revolutionary New Dating Paradigm (RNDP) is Gradspot.com where a writer named Gritz tells us that the new dating paradigm is to look for career-oriented women at the office and forget about chivalry.

Paradigm Shift #1: The office is the new bar
As Rosenbloom explains, “Those who follow the evolution of the workplace romance say the stigma may be fading because the line between business and personal life is blurring among younger workers. They are working longer hours. Their workplaces encourage collaboration. And, of course, most single people are in the work force.”

Paradigm Shift #2: Feminists are the new hot girls

...A “career-oriented” women—too often used as a descriptive shorthand for a feminist—is now more acceptable than ever....

Paradigm Shift #3: Chivalry is dead


Fourth Dwarf Analysis:

It appears Gritz and the writer Stephanie Rosenbloom have spent little time in the workplace and possibly less time dating. The only "new" thing in this 3-part paradigm shift is the throw-away line that "chivalry is dead". People have always hooked up wherever they happen to meet. Feminists have always been the hottest women. If chivalry is dead, based on the comments we've seen about how it's appreciated when guys pay for dinner, fellows who revive chivalry are well appreciated.

It could be that Gritz is suggesting that women should stop looking for chivalry in the men they are dating. Unfortunately, Gritz has given us no basis following this suggestion, but we'll explore the idea in future postings.

Tuesday

Quest for a Revolutionary New Dating Paradigm™ - Introduction

Several weeks ago, I told you all how to get down to kissing at the movies, and a bunch of you turned it into a silly discussion on paying for meals and assessing personal characteristics. Near the end of this discussion, Zoom suggested that "The world needs a Revolutionary New Dating Paradigm™."

par·a·digm [par-uh-dahym, -dim]
noun
1.Grammar.
a.
a set of forms all of which contain a particular element, esp. the set of all inflected forms based on a single stem or theme.
b.a display in fixed arrangement of such a set, as boy, boy's, boys, boys'.
2. an example serving as a model; pattern.

[Origin: 1475–85; LL paradīgma Gk parádeigma pattern (verbid of paradeiknýnai to show side by side), equiv. to para- para-1 + deik-, base of deiknýnai to show (see deictic) + -ma n. suffix]
2. mold, standard; ideal, paragon, touchstone.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Does it? I almost replied, Isn't what I've suggested good enough? Get yourself next to a snoggable someone in a dark place and try out your moves! It might not be revolutionary or new, but it works.

However, many of you are not willing to accept my expertise in this area and maybe it's my fault for not giving you enough reason to. So, I have embarked on a quest to find a Revolutionary New Dating Paradigm (RNDP). (I won't be trademarking it as Zoom suggested because I believe in freely sharing the wealth of my intellectual property.)

Step 1: Go to Google.

A search for "Revolutionary New Dating Paradigm" only gets 1 hit. (Of course, by the time you are reading this, it'll be 2 hits, and far more if you're only getting around to reading this after I've finished this series and the world catches on to the brilliance of the RNDP). The lack of other hits is a sign that nobody else has found a revolutionary new dating paradigm and may even be evidence that Zoom is right that the world needs one.

A search on "Revolutionary Dating Paradigm" gets the answer "No results found for "Revolutionary Dating Paradigm". (Not anymore of course, but how about I stop writing these parenthetical disclaimers and we just take it as understood that every time I describe a search, this posting and any posting that quotes it will be on Google if you try the search yourself.)

However, when we try "New Dating Paradigm", we start to get somewhere: 15 hits.

Step 2: Literature Review

I have examined each of the sites with references to a new dating paradigm and I am happy to report that while a couple are useless for our purposes, there is some valuable work taking place out there on the World Wide Web. There are relationship scholars who are using their formidable skills on this topic and even some who are doing crucial fieldwork at their own risk and expense.

Investigating the work of these scholars has taken me on a wide-ranging adventure. I've combed through scientific articles, Wikipedia entries, the urban dictionary, and many other sources.

In addition to looking for new dating paradigms, I've also investigated new dating schemas, and new dating methods. (Did you know that to tell how old bones are, radiocarbon dating is out and now they're measuring the amount of radiation that has been absorbed by the sand that is found with the bones?)

Step 3: Report back on the new paradigms

In upcoming posts, I will be looking at sites that describe a "new dating paradigm" and reporting on what we can learn from them.

Step 4: Report back on further work

Following these posts, I'll be exploring schemas, methods and other research avenues that have been suggested in the paradigm research.

Step 5: Conclusion: The Revolutionary New Dating Paradigm

That's right - a conclusion. This series will end with an answer. Not a suggestion that further research needs to be done and a request for more funding. You'll be getting your paradigm.

Monday

What's this Two Lip Fest, anyway?

I don't get it. Why hold a Two Lip Fest? Makes no sense to celebrate something so ordinary. Doesn't everybody have a pair?

Or is it supposed to be about the kissing...? Like in those old country songs, where there's always a line about "pressing your two lips close to mine..."?

Thursday

Top SeKrit Public Announcement

Pandora and coyote are pleased to announce that they are ramping up an Ultra Cosmic Top SeKrit Project, final results of which will be released in due time. It will be highly secret and scientific, involving ummm, really science-y secret things.

Do not try to find out what we're up to, or you will face consequences. B-a-a-a-a-d ones.

Pandora's sprightly dimples camouflage extensive international training in the dark arts of elocution instruction, which have equipped her with an infinite number of ruthlessly exotic ways to stun, torture, maim and/or kill those who would try to subvert our purpose.

Coyote’s semi-mythical snout camouflages an extensive set of real pointy chompers, and he owns cookbooks full of exotic cat recipes that would make a Tartar blanch. Oh. And millennia of experience have made him kinda sneaky about the bite-and-run thing.

If, in the course of your daily rounds you accidentally spot us doing Ultra Cosmic Top SeKrit Stuff, look away. Leave quickly. Go someplace else. Hide. Tell no one. If you do tell someone -- or worse yet, if you actually try to follow us or question us on this matter, we absolutely cannot be held responsible for what accidentally happens to you. But it will be b-a-a-a-a-d... and we'll really enjoy doing it.

Thank you. You may now commence floating the usual wild and groundless speculations.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...