re: #138 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Human interaction is too complex and nuanced to be discussed in terms of Tweets and Internet memes.

I have been pondering this: there used to be this thing called courtship, which was practiced in some isolated regions well into the second half of the 20th century.

The point of this odd and archaic custom was for a woman to allow an interested male to demonstrate that he was prepared to be a gentleman and able to respect her wishes before they got into any potentially compromising situations.

Now I am not advocating anything remotely like a return to chaperones, segregated dormitories or chastity belts, but perhaps we need to rethink the nature of post-courtship dating in our society.

I met my wife on the Internet, on a specialised dating site. By the time I flew out to visit her, we’d had months of long-distance courtship via that site, E-mail, and telephone.

Presumably you could argue the Website was a chaperone, as if I’d been a jerk, I would have been banned by the moderators or owner.