# Poll: How long from "hello" to "get a condom"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 1, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170 "2007-10-01T17:45:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/41 "2007-10-02T07:13:17Z")
First met? Or first started dating? With my best, most recent (we broke up three years ago, so it’s likely my last as well) relationship, we met about 2 and a half years before we actually started dating. We were dance partners for about the last 5 months of that right before we started dating. From our first actual date to bed was about 2 weeks. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/42 "2007-10-02T07:17:49Z")
Current fiancé: Three weeks of online time, in which we chatted probably six or seven major sessions of a couple hours each. One dinner date of five hours. I went with him back to his place and it was bingo the same night. So I’d say 40-50 hours. I’m 40. Last fiancé, when I was 22: one afternoon date, half a year of letter writing (2 letters a week), one weekend date and bingo. So I’d say 90-100 hours of contact. Edited after seeing \*\*tdn’\*\*s giveaway post: Man, apparently I’m hard to get. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/43 "2007-10-02T07:52:14Z")
Oh wait, I guess I misunderstood the “time spent apart” phrase to mean like in a different state or country or something. Ummmmm, 40 hours? I don’t know, that was too long ago. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/44 "2007-10-02T10:11:58Z")
I’m told by reliable gay friends that on occasion the condom precedes “hello”. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/45 "2007-10-02T12:18:27Z")
First time ever: Met her in September, surrendered my virginity to her in February, We were in college, she was older (22) than me (19) and it was 1970-71. No. 2: Less than 3 weeks from howdy to hittin’ it. No. 3: We met at a party in late May, she climbed into my bed on a Saturday morning in early June, we got married a year later. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/46 "2007-10-02T12:30:58Z")
We were friends for about a year first, and after we became a couple it was a couple of months. I’m not a wait until marriage type, but I am picky when it comes to sex. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/47 "2007-10-02T12:46:55Z")
> [@](#): > > Hey, you got the girl anyway. > > So how long was it for you? (And don’t say ten inches.) **Masstricht** ’s experience more closely resembles mine. Except there were a lot more infinities in my case. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/48 "2007-10-02T14:20:14Z")
First hello- February 1999. I think. Engaged, October 2000. Had sex- December 28, 2002. Wedding night. ‘Wait till marriage’ types. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/49 "2007-10-02T14:59:45Z")
[QUOTE=stolichnaya] My Pharmacist: ten seconds. [/QUOTE] Prescription Condoms? Band Name! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/50 "2007-10-02T17:23:20Z")
My current girlfriend was a roommate, first - so quite a few months, there. The last one? Met at a party, arranged to meet a few days later for dinner. So four hours face-time, tops. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/51 "2007-10-03T04:46:34Z")
[QUOTE=tdn] I read something interesting the other day, and would like to verify its accuracy. If you already know what I’m talking about, please don’t shout out the answer. I want peoples’ honest accounting of their experience. Think about your current relationship, or most recent, or any one that you can remember the beginning of fairly accurately. How long did it take to go from first meeting to bed? Time spent apart doesn’t count, but time on the phone does. If you are a wait until marriage type, please say so. If there was some sort of artificial constraint, such as waiting for HIV tests to come back, please mention that as well. [/QUOTE] I’m not reading any of the thread, so as to answer the OP as requested. We met randomly online, not through a dating service or anything. We talked online and by phone and letters for just shy of two years before he came to meet me in person. When we actually, physically, met in person? However long it took to get from the Sacramento airport to my apartment in East Davis 😃 If you want more specifics, I think it did actually take several hours before we really got down to business. We were just so excited to be touching each other. So: after meeting, two years. Face time: a few hours. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/52 "2007-10-03T04:58:38Z")
[QUOTE=NajaNivea] So: after meeting, two years. Face time: a few hours. [/QUOTE] Ah, read the thread. In actual hours, I’d guess 500+? Sometimes we’d talk for several hours several times a day. Sometimes we’d just call each other to say goodnight. We almost never went more than a day or two without some kind of contact. That went on for a year and a half! Talk about perseverance, I tell ya what. 😉 If we hadn’t met in that specific way, if we had known each other in our everyday worlds, I don’t think we’d ever have gotten together. ---
**Author:** ![Sofaspud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sofaspud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofaspud)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/53 "2007-10-04T00:33:54Z")
Hrm. Well, my personal record for “Hello” to “BOOING!” was about, oh, fifteen minutes, I think. But I’m not sure it should count, as it was (a) my first time, (b) not a relationship, and © it was obvious that it had been planned from the beginning. (I was in a relationship, sorta, with one of them. She talked to the other, who I hadn’t met yet. We played strip poker. They stacked the deck.) Ahem. The shortest time for one I would consider valid was probably about 2 hours, most of which consisted of conversation time while I shuttled her back and forth to her job. She was a, uh, dancer. Average… probably in the twenty hour range. My wife: we were friends for years before we got involved, so it’s hard to judge. But I’d say about 20 - 25 hours (talking, dinners, movies, etc.) before The Big Night at the end of the week. We’ve been married 2 years now, ‘together’ for six, and friends for… um… 10? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/54 "2007-10-04T01:31:35Z")
Tricky question… The closest from actual “hello” to actual “condom” (or actual sex, since a condom wasn’t used (yeah, I know, I’m a horrible person.)) was about a week. It was the cousin to a guy who sub-let a room in a house I lived in last year. I met her once night when we were all playing beirut, and then about a week later we had a small BBQ, and afterwards a few of us went downtown. She came back to my place and some sex was had. Several years earlier, though, I met a friend of my best friend in college. We all went to a party, and while there, we made out a lot, and had I not been a virgin, she would have come home with me (I still wanted her to, but she said she would have felt bad.) The next night we were all on a long bus-ride to go to a bon-fire thing, and more making out and third-base action was had. Oddly enough, I think the _longest_ from hello to condom was…nine years. Last spring, I dated the little sister of a friend I had since high school. I met her when she was about eleven, and I was sixteen. Creepy? Maybe, but damn, she got HOT! ---
**Author:** ![lobstermobster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobstermobster/32/10033_2.png) [@lobstermobster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobstermobster)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/55 "2007-10-04T01:47:54Z")
what if the hello comes after the condom ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/56 "2007-10-04T04:00:54Z")
[QUOTE=lobstermobster] what if the hello comes after the condom [/QUOTE] Which brings us back to my post. People may have thought I was joking, but I assure you I was serious. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/57 "2007-10-04T04:21:40Z")
[QUOTE=Sofaspud] Well, my personal record for “Hello” to “BOOING!” was about, oh, fifteen minutes, I think. [/QUOTE] You got booed? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/58 "2007-10-04T04:23:04Z")
Months, except for one case, in which it was hours. ---
**Author:** ![Sofaspud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8491ac/32.png) [@Sofaspud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofaspud)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/59 "2007-10-04T04:36:03Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] You got booed? [/QUOTE] I seem to have inserted a second ‘O’ in there. Oops. Typo. (Oh, wait, I mean, since it was two of them, there were two big 'O’s, know what I mean? Huh? Huh?) … I got nuthin’. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170/60 "2007-10-04T06:00:54Z")
With my wife, we hung out and dated for two months before we jumped in bed. I’d say maybe 30 or 40 hours. My record is about 30 minutes from when I met a girl in a bar until she was giving me a BJ in a taxi on the way to a hotel. I think that gays have it easy, it sounds like 15 minutes would be two standard deviations slower than the average. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-how-long-from-hello-to-get-a-condom/421170.md?page=4)