"What’s your (astrological) sign?" was the stereotypical pick up line of the 1970s. I was too young to have heard it in action, but it got used in many books, TV shows and movies from the era.
In college in the 1980s, "What’s your major?" was the preferred icebreaker. It was entertaining for myself and my friends to make up obscure, bizarre fields of study as a response to see how the other party could pivot.
After that, I never encountered anything more creative than "Would you like to get dinner/a drink/coffee/see a movie?" I prefer direct approaches, so perhaps that's why gentlemen took that route with me.
But not everyone followed that path on the way to romance.
A Redditor asked:
"What's the smoothest pick up line you've heard?"
Snacks
"Was in my girl's car on our first date—she comes from money so has a fancy pants car."
"I was talking about how nice it is and she goes, 'Yeah, look it even has a snack warmer' and turns on my seat warmer."
~ braidedasshair99
Hands
"Was at a bar with a friend once, someone knocked a glass off the bar and a guy quickly caught it."
"Friend: 'Fast hands!'."
"Guy: 'Thanks, they go slow too'."
"Friend f*cking melted, I messaged her my congrats the morning after."
~ banananey
10/10 Would Recommend
"Girl slid into my DMs and said that she’d give me a dime for my number.
"Then I said, 'okay but I have to see the dime first' then she sent me my profile picture."
"Dime is slang for someone who is a 10/10."
~ OhThroe
Tasty
"I was eating lunch and this girl said, 'that looks so good—and so does your food'."
~ LatinChiro
Smooth Operator
"I once accidentally flirted with another man (I'm straight) at an upscale bar."
"I was enjoying my drink, and a man sat near me, and without a thought, I said, 'Your cologne pairs really well with my drink'."
"He blushed, I blushed, the bartender blushed."
"I wish I was that smooth with people I actually want to flirt with."
~ apocguy
Ladies First
"Met a girl back in college. She was gorgeous."
"I kept looking at her, but was afraid of rejection."
"During a break, she came up to me and said, 'Are you just going to look at me, or do I have to make the first move?'."
"Needless to say, she never let me forget that."
~ HoodedOccam
Who, Me?
"I wouldn’t call this 'smooth' more 'effective'."
"I used to smile at a cute guy across the bar and then mouth 'come here' while waving him over. The adorable 'ME‽‽' looks they used to get on their faces were priceless."
"They could be smooth as they wanted afterward, but they always gave away any cool demeanor they tried to have with the initial utter shock."
"I’d like to also clarify that I am not a supermodel. I think guys are just so not used to this kind of attention that it was deeply flattering."
~ itsadialectic
Orange Crush
"I (extremely ginger) had an instant crush on this redhead girl with very short hair when she came into the bar I was working in at the time."
"It was probably the only time I've ever had a line, but I somehow came up with 'Why is it you're pulling my hair off better than I ever could?'."
"We dated for a few months, and we're still on good terms."
~ Stubbledorange
Headline
"I had a really cute girl come up to me once, and say 'Hey, I was wondering if you could see yourself in me later?'."
"Me caught off guard completely: 'uhhhh I don't know, maybe' (because I'm so smooth myself)."
"Then she pulls off her wig and pretends to polish her completely bald head with her sleeve and bending down to present the top of her head to me. 'How about now?'."
"It turns out that she had Alopecia, so she just tried to make the best of a sh*tty situation. We dated for almost a year."
~ Xpalidocious
Eyeliner
"Was approached by a woman who winked at me."
"I said, 'Do you have something in your eye?' And she replied, 'You'."
"I married her."
~ AZEightySeven
Squash
"A red headed buddy of mine went up to a stunning redhead at a bar and ask if she 'wanted to start a pumpkin patch'."
~ Red_Eyed_Vireo
She Had His Number
"This girl I had a crush on in high school asked to use my phone to call hers because she couldn't find it."
"Her phone started ringing in her pocket, she pulls it out, saves my number and says she'll text me later."
~ ssssrks
Hit And A Miss
"It didn't happen in English so the wordplay isn't as good but it went something like this."
"Wintertime, icy sidewalk, very cute girl was struggling a bit not to slip."
"I go: 'careful, you might fall!'."
"Her: 'that's alright, maybe you will catch me over a cup of coffee'."
"Her spontaneity really caught me off guard. All I could say was 'maybe' and walked away...yep, idiot."
~ rmeman
Quod Est Signum Tuum?
"I did an accidental one once. It was a time in college where I was doing a lot of Latin, and I met a girl at like a one-off lecture event."
"She said, 'Hi, my name's Amanda' and I said 'Oh cool, in Latin that means "the girl to be loved"'."
"Then she kinda giggled, but I wasn't trying to give her a pick-up line. I was trying to give her a Latin fact."
~ Ignorred
Ice Cold
"I worked retail when I was younger, and I was up there on my day off buying something."
"Well, the younger sister of one of my coworkers was there, and we somehow congregated around with a manager, and he made a comment about you can punch in and work, and she, without missing a beat, was like, he can’t, we’re going out for ice cream."
"I had never even met her before, but we went out for ice cream and dated for a few years."
~ SubSoniq
What's the best pickup line you've heard?
@An_Enemy_Within/X