American Anthropological Association

For those cerebral types in the market for a mate, both the New York Review of Books (NYRB) and the London Review of Books (LRB) have personal ads.

But while both publications may attract the intellectual upper crust of their respective sides of the Atlantic (or at least, those who think of themselves as such), the Yanks and Brits have distinctly different ad styles.

According to Stephen Gertz,  in a piece from Fine Books Magazine this spring, “With far too many U.S. personals, it’s all sharing romantic walks on the beach, sunsets, picnics in the park, drives up the coast with the top down, a glass of wine in front of the fireplace. There’s a distinct lack of imagination…The Brits don’t seem to care about optimizing first impressions, marketing themselves and creating positive brand awareness: This is who I am, take it or leave it but I will never bore you!”

Gertz presents a number of LRB ads that originally appeared in 2006′s They Call Me Naughty Lola, a collection  put together by LRB editor David Rose. According to Gertz, the book is “social anthropology at its entertaining best.”

Highlights from the LRB include:

“You’ll regret replying to this ad – its owner smells of peas”

“Tell me your dreams. I’ll laugh at them all and prove how unlikely you are to achieve them.”

“List your ten favourite albums. I don’t want to compare notes, I just want to know if there’s anything worth keeping when we finally break up.”

You can check out some of NYRB‘s ads at their personals page, where the submitters claim to have “self-deprecating humor”, but are too busy telling us they are “inordinately literary” and “unexpectedly sexy” to exhibit any of it.

Filed under: Uncategorized