How not to pick up a girl on an airplane.

My daughter’s dear friend is here visiting us this week from Canada. She’s a sweet girl who bears a bit of a resemblance to Reese Witherspoon. People often remark on the resemblance. On the airplane, there was a guy trying to chat her up. Towards the end of their plane ride, he asked her, “Has anyone ever told you you look like Reese Witherspoon?”

Hartley answered, “Yes, I have heard that before and I take it as a compliment. Thank you.”

His response? “Oh, I’m not that big of a fan of hers!”

:smack:

I think the guy needs to brush up on his girl-picking-up skills!

Crap! I thought it was cool to not like Reese Witherspoon! :smack:

Some men must have been napping when the singles-savvy was passed out. I once had a similar encounter (not on an airplane, but at a disco):

GUY: Hey, has anyone told you that you look like Bernadette Peters?
ME: Yes, I’ve heard that a lot.
GUY: Well, you don’t look that much like her.

Too bad she didn’t retort with “that’s alright, it’s not like you’re Ryan Philippe”.

I have resolved never to again ask someone if anyone has ever told them that they look like someone they resemble. Trust me: someone has.

…you mean them airplane-girls don’t have handles or easy-stow capacity?

Harumph.

I like his style.

He got farther than me. My airplane pick-up skills are so bad I’ve never even sat next to someone who looks like Reese Witherspoon.

Occasionally I’ll say something like that to someone in the hopes that they’re actually the celebrity in question.

Take yesterday, for example. This girl I was sitting next to in a restaurant (and it’s New York, so it very well could have been her) bore an uncanny resemblance to Natalie Portman.

So I felt much less the fool saying “do a lot of people tell you you look just like Natalie Portman?” than saying “hey… you’re not Natalie Portman, are you”? and receiving a “No…” in reply.

If it was, you just annoyed her. If it wasn’t, you just annoyed someone that looked like her. Instead, you should talk her up just like you would any other person you are attracted to, if Natalie is your thing. Then if it is, you may have just made a friend with a celebrity. And if it isn’t, you still might have made a good friend regardless.

That question is never a good idea, unless you spice it up. “Has anyone ever told you that you look just like someone who would look great knealing before me?” Much more sauve, I say.

Just last week I was on a plane and the steward asked me “has anyone ever told you you look like Julia Stiles? I looked over at you and thought, hey, Julia Stiles is going on vacation!” The answer was yes they have, but it was funnier when I picked up the magazine I was reading and realized Julia Stiles was on the cover and so it probably looked like I was holding her picture next to me for easy comparison.

Has anyone ever told you that you look like Gilbert Godfried?

Babe, where you goin’?

I once told Mary Lou Retton that she looked a lot like Mary Lou Retton. :smack:

I think it’s funny whenever some woman comes up to me and tells me I look like some famous person. I have, at various times in my life, been compared to Michael J. Fox(!), some soap opera star I have no knowledge of, and Brad Pitt(!!). I find it amusing because I look absolutely, completely nothing like any of these people (with the possible exception of the soap opera guy I’ve never seen before – but frankly I don’t in any way fit the typical soap opera hunky guy mould, unless they started hiring short, slightly dumpy guys.)

I once got the following:

“You look like an ugly version of Alanis Morrisette.”

Clearly he was trying to impress. Did he throw anything at you?

well… she does… :dubious:

I saw Bobcat Goldthwait do a routine once about a girl who came up to him and said, “I don’t mean to offend you, but you look a lot like Bobcat Goldthwait.”

I have been compared to Elton John and Kelsey Grammer. My current GF says I look like Denzel Washington. Yeah, sure, if he were fat, bald, and white.

When I was 16 I was on a field trip to Yurp with some of my classmates and other kids from different schools. It had been a long flight and toward the end I figured I’d go freshen up a bit. Several other folks had the same idea. So waiting in line at the can…waiting in line at the can…waiting in line at the can…finally a little kid pops out of the lavatory and runs right into me like I’m invisible. He looks surprised, turns around & bounces off a girl standing nearby. He looks surprised, turns around 360 degrees and scampers off. “Little kids. They get confused so easily.” Says I. Idle chitchat follows. Turns out the other girl was in my tour group. We ended up making out in 4 different countries…and no, there was no “mile high” action. We frequently had a giggle about little kids getting confused because we both realized we were still kids ourselves. eh…met my future wife shortly after returning. I sometimes wish I’d have been a little less confused.