NEWS
Dating gets convenient
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by Meredith Dietrich
Friday, September 19, 2003
by Meredith Dietrich, News Reporter
Dating. A scary word for some, but promising for others. Speed dating, supermarket dating and online dating are just three of the latest fads to hit the dating scene in recent years.
In Paris, Lafayette Gourmet Supermarket staff noticed that a lot of “singletons” were shopping at the same time at night and decided to start Supermarket Dating. “Singletons,” as they are called, are given purple baskets with a cartoon of people kissing on it, a glass of champagne, a special checkout counter to meet other singletons and, if they are lucky enough to find a prospect, a picture of the two of them.
“We noticed that we have an evening clientele buying single portions of fresh food, so we decided the demand is there,” Lafayette Gourmet head Sylvain Faudu said Monday.
This idea of convenience and dating combined can also be seen in the recent “speed dating” trend.
Speed dating, which has gained popularity over the past couple years, involves 30 men and women going on mini-dates to see who they like.
Women each sit at separate tables and the men take turns rotating to each table, spending a total of 3 minutes with each woman. When time is up, each person then writes whether they enjoyed the other person or not. At the end of the evening, the cards are compared to see who had similar answers. If two people like each other, the service coordinates a date for them.
In Cardiff, speed dating has started for the professional Muslim man or woman looking for potential marriage partners. “Speed Intros,” as they are called, are the first speed dating service to be offered in Cardiff and are geared toward Muslims who are not interested in their traditional, religious form of dating, where marriage partners are found based on family introductions.
A spin-off of speed dating is 8 Minute Dating, where the dates last 8 minutes each and, instead of 15 dates, there are only 8. Although the selection is smaller, the slight increase in time is meant to allow people to get to know each other better.
Online dating is also very popular for modern singles. Participants can look at pictures and small biographies before they decide whether or not they want to e-mail the person. Dating online is also extremely convenient because finding a date for the weekend is as easy as logging onto the Internet.
Online dating services, such as Americansingles.com or jdate.com, require users to type in the location where they are looking for love, and the sex and age of the partner they are looking for. Within seconds, a page of prospects appears on the screen. After viewing each person, interested parties can than e-mail the ones they like.
Some European countries have also picked up on online dating. The vastly popular Match.com sweepingly holds 200,000 users in Germany alone.
Though these new dating fads may be growing in popularity in some parts of the world, it may take some time before they catch on in Madison, according to UW sophomore Michael Reinberg.
“I haven’t even heard of speed dating,” Reinberg said with a shrug.
For those interested in meeting new people in Madison, they can try fastdater.com. This website gives the locations, times and events. RSVP is required to attend.
Hillel also offers speed dating on campus. The organization hosted dating events last semester and has plans to continue this spring.
