Humour and hygiene romance clinchers

TELL mysterious jokes to a woman and she will be yours. Shower fairly regularly and make a man laugh and you are halfway to a second date.

That would appear to be the recipe for romance, according to a poll by online dating website anotherfriend.com. It did not point out that an ability to talk face-to-face rather than through a computer screen would also be a helpful talent.

The survey asked the male and female users what made for an ideal date. It found that men who are mysterious and funny are the biggest turn-on for women while men look for a partner of the opposite sex who has a sweet personality and can make them laugh out loud. The website suggests that actress Jennifer Aniston is the ideal female date. (Was it not the scriptwriters who came up with her punchlines in Friends?) A close second is Sharon Ní Bheoláin, who needs to start reading the news a bit more seriously because the website obviously thinks she is a hoot.

George Clooney was the somewhat obvious choice for women because he is funny and anyone whose best friend used to be a pig is quite plainly a bit mysterious.

One would have thought it was taken as read, but the survey points out that both men and women preferred a partner who did not have poor personal hygiene.

Surprisingly rugby star Brian O’Driscoll and actor Colin Farrell — often held up by the press as male ideals — scored low in the ranks of attraction.

Once a prospective suitor was selected, the website examined what was looked for from a date. Here, somewhat contradictory findings emerged. While the sur-vey found people pre-ferred a romantic dinner for two to a drink in the pub, it also found most agreed 30 minutes was all they would allow for their potential partner to make a good impression.

That makes for an uncomfortable meal from about the main course on.

Both sexes appeared patriotic in their answers, with most saying they liked home-grown speci-mens of the opposite sex, though for both their next best option seemed far removed in appearance and mannerisms, opting for Italians.

Finally, and some would say most crucially, the respondents were asked what physical attributes attracted them.

Men agreed with women that eyes were the first thing that grabbed their attention — closely followed by the more stereotypical answers of breasts and hair.

For women, a good smile and strong shoulders proved the next most important.