Saying "hi" and introducing yourself is a great opener. After that you'd better have some idea of what to say because you've got about five seconds of her responding before you have to say something else and keep her attention. If it's about the food, wait until she's not looking at cans of spotted dick. If it's something about her, the spectrum runs from creepy to well-received compliments to looking like a gay guy admiring her fashion sense. You want to be in the middle, and lean toward the gay guy side rather than creepy if you really don't have something middle-of-the-road to say.
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Originally Posted by genuinegirly
I'm honestly a bit creeped out when a guy says hi and starts talking to me, seemingly out of nowhere. Even more creepy if he starts talking about what I'm looking at, trying to get to know me - I would likely be wondering how long he has been watching me and if he would likely try to follow me if I politely stepped away from the conversation.
So, my advice: When you see a woman who appears single, that you'd like to get to know, and you have no real reason to talk to her - DON'T. Leave her be. Instead, join a club, take a class, or volunteer somewhere you think you'll run into women with your same interests. Then feel free to get to know them in a comfortable setting before you ask them out.
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This seems like a personal hangup. I know some people who aren't comfortable being approached by strangers, but the majority wouldn't mind.
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Originally Posted by genuinegirly
I can picture this tactic working really well - catches them completely off-guard what with your mohawk and all.
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It works great. The key is to not be afraid of looking foolish if she doesn't bite.
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Originally Posted by UnclearContent
Learned this from some source years ago, I would cite it if I could remember.
Walk up to girls you normally would be too shy to speak to. Start a conversation. Do this for two weeks. The difference? For those two weeks talk to these girls with zero intention of asking them out. Because there is no goal other than small-talk you remove a great deal of the pressure you would normally feel to 'work up' to asking them out. If you bomb who cares? You weren't going to get a date anyways. This lets you focus more on quality conversation. Later on when you meet someone you really like the 'talk' will come naturally and you will feel, and be, more confident.
I agree with genuinegirly that you're a lot more likely to find a match while in a group of like-minded people. However, for practice making conversation it's often better with total strangers that you won't have to see over and over again.
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This is good advice. After you're comfortable striking up conversations with strangers, you can conquer your fear of rejection by having a contest with a friend at a bar to see who can get the most rejections in one night. Loser pays for the cab home.