Funny, I read your post and my initial reaction was that this evidence cuts against PUA. (Now I’m not sure whether it supports PUA or not, but I lean towards support).
PUA would predict that this phrase
...while I devote myself to worshiping the ground she walks on.
The irony is that the phrase was sort of serious, but in the context of a profile much of which is a lengthy exercise in countersignalling to people who don’t know me, I can probably count on most people making the same assumption you did.
More specifically: “I devote myself to worshiping the ground she walks on” is the kind of sentence you mainly say for its connotations, not its denotations. In isolation, the connotation would be ‘she’s so much awesome than me’, which is low status, but in context it’s ‘she’s so much more awesome than you’, which is high status.
Funny, I read your post and my initial reaction was that this evidence cuts against PUA. (Now I’m not sure whether it supports PUA or not, but I lean towards support).
PUA would predict that this phrase
is unattractive.
I dunno, in the context it sounds clearly tongue-in-cheek—though you usually can’t countersignal to people who don’t know you (see also).
The irony is that the phrase was sort of serious, but in the context of a profile much of which is a lengthy exercise in countersignalling to people who don’t know me, I can probably count on most people making the same assumption you did.
More specifically: “I devote myself to worshiping the ground she walks on” is the kind of sentence you mainly say for its connotations, not its denotations. In isolation, the connotation would be ‘she’s so much awesome than me’, which is low status, but in context it’s ‘she’s so much more awesome than you’, which is high status.
Good point.