The Best Pickup Lines That Are Proven To Work, According To Reddit
Look, we’re not going to sugarcoat it: the dating world can sometimes be a bit grim.
Between all the fuckboys in the world (so many that they’ve made a TV show about it), and the horrors of online dating, it’s almost enough to turn us off dating altogether.
However, getting off dating apps and going out into the real world also comes with its own problems. The idea of walking up to a stranger at a bar to attempt to initiate conversation sends me into a nervous sweat — I can’t think of anything worse.
But what if I told you there’s a list of pickup lines that have been proven to work?
Over on r/AskReddit, users have been sharing the best pickup lines they’ve encountered, and you might want to save some for a rainy day.
We picked out the most effective and funniest entries from Reddit users answering: “What’s the best pickup line you’ve ever heard?”
Some posts have been edited for clarity.
This simple pickup line:
“Only pickup line I have ever actually seen work is, ‘So, I see you have legs’. Six different couples I know started out with that line.
“The running story I hear from their spouses is almost always, ‘I’ve heard so many lines that this one random phrase just disarmed me’. I’ve used it a couple of times myself and the reaction is always the same. They freeze for a second while it processes then just start laughing. Once they start laughing they are more likely to continue talking to you.
“I’m not really interested in relationships or sex, I did it as an experiment after seeing it work three times before, three of the couples I know that hooked up after I ran that experiment and actually credit me for the line. But the first one to use it was my nephew on his now wife.
“Even better, it is universal! Women can use it, men can use it, NB [non-binary] can use it. But remember, it is all in the delivery. You either have to go way over the top or be completely deadpan — that is the only way it works.”
This straight to the point pickup line:
“Once was at a festival where a stall was giving out free condoms at a booth. One of the ladies was talking to a guy and a girl saying, ‘The condoms are free by the way, take as many as you want… oh but we don’t have unlimited stock so please don’t take more than you need’. The girl picks up a condom, turns to the guy, and says ‘wanna share?’.”
This pun-ny pickup line:
“When I was a student at university, I saw a pretty girl eating a particular brand of yoghurt at the crowded dining hall before morning classes. I had the same brand of yoghurt on my tray. I asked if I could sit at her table and she nodded. I looked across the table at her and pointed at her yoghurt and said with a big shmucky smile ‘Yoplait or mine?’. It was said with humour and not as a pickup line. I ended up marrying that pretty girl. Amazing, given the horrible first line.”
This truly bizarre, but memorable pickup line:
“It’s not a pickup line as such, but this guy once said to me in passing, ‘GIIIIRRRLL, I wanna feed you STEAK and GRAPES!’ and I have never forgotten.”
This bold pickup line:
“A woman once told me ‘every time I drink tequila I wind up sleeping with someone’ and then proceeded to take a shot of tequila while holding eye contact with me.”
These wholesome pickup lines:
“When I was teaching kindergarten, one of my students (who knew I love video games) dropped this one on me: ‘You’re pretty. You should come to my house after school and we can play Little Big Planet. My mom makes great snacks’. His mom and I had a good laugh about it at pick-up time.”
“I was at my friend’s house and his five-year-old brother grabbed one of our friends by the hand and asked if he could play her a song on his guitar. She said yes, he picked up his guitar but stopped just before strumming it, thought for about 30 seconds and said, ‘I don’t know any songs for princesses’. That little kid had way more game [than] 19-year-old me had.”
This clever pickup line:
“I was at the gym, at the locker room, and this girl saw me with the same towel. She said, ‘We have the same towel!’, and I was like, ‘True haha’. Then, she said, ‘I wonder if we have the same phone number, too. Wanna check?’. I told her I already had a girlfriend but I wished her the best because she deserves the world.”
– @anjimv
This shoelace pickup line:
“I saw a girl walking down the street once and her shoe was untied so I bent down started tying it and said: ‘I wouldn’t want you falling for anyone else’. I was with a lot of friends at the time who lost it so it didn’t go anywhere but it seemed like it worked.
“The better part is one of my buddies was like, ‘Oh shit that’s amazing I got to try that’, and got so excited, did the same thing. The person he chose was wearing sandals and just went, ‘Ummm what the fuck are you doing’. He panicked and just ran away. Funniest thing ever.”
– @meeqs
And finally, this totally honest pickup line:
“I said, ‘Look, I really don’t like this whole scene, I’d rather be at home chilling out, and I find it fucking exhausting pretending to be witty and confident and clever or whatever, and this noise and crowd hurt my head to be honest, it’s just not me. But I do really like you, I’d love to hang out with you again and get to know you more’.
“The only success I have ever had was with this, six years later we are still together and married.”
Hmm, I never thought that declaring somebody had legs could result in six successful couples. And here I was thinking it pays off to be witty and creative. Stick to simplicity, folks!
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