Friday, May 1, 2009

It's Gonna be Legen--Wait for it, Dary: Thoughts on "Wingmen"

Men are fascinating. And by "fascinating" I mean, utterly inexplicable and occasionally frustrating. This is especially evident in their "picking up women" practices. I mean, just look at Barney

I love you, Neil Patrick Harris.

Barney is, of course, a fictional character on the enormously funny show How I Met Your Mother, played by the talented Neil Patrick Harris. (Sidenote: he also stars in a wildly entertaining internet musical called Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog...YouTube it). On the show, NPH's character often acts as a "wingman" for his friend, Ted.

Now, according to Urban Dictionary, a wingman is the following:

wingman (n.): a guy you bring along with you on singles outing (like to bars) that helps you out with the women

Of course, this can be interpreted in many ways, but generally, I have ascertained that the wingman performs certain duties, including engaging the woman (or women) that his friend is not interested in, in order to give his friend time with the woman that he actually likes. Also, he "talks up his friend," attempting to make him seem more interesting or attractive in the woman's eyes. 

Seems a bit convoluted to me, but okay. However, I was a bit surprised that my boyfriend, James, is going out this weekend to do exactly that for his friend, Hans*. 


The wingman. Kinda looks like NPH, right? Well, he's blonde, anyway.

His mention of this outing spurred what was probably an hour AIM conversation, followed by an even longer video chat. Why does Hans need a wingman? Can't he do this by himself? What exactly does this all entail? Honestly, the whole conversation was a bit more confusing than enlightening, but mainly one question spurred to mind. Do girls really fall for this?  

Also...what does this say about the guy? That he needs strategy and "distractions" and his friend's compliments to talk to a girl? Or he's just "shy"?

Ladies, gents...thoughts on wingmen? 

Good luck this weekend, Hans, and may James be helpful to you.

*Name changed -- Hans is a cool one though, right?

1 comments:

Christina said...

how i met your mother is one of my favorite shows EVER. i want a barney in real life.

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