hunt(ing)

[Itasan]

1. job hunt(ing)
2. head hunt(ing)
Are the above good English?
How about:
3. boy hunt(ing) - cruising
4. girl hunt(ing) - cruising
Thank you.

[Tdol]

The first two are fine. IMO, 'cruising' tends to be used about gays.

[HaraKiriBlade]

Are you thinking of nanpa when you say boy / girl hunting? There's probably more approperiate English expression for it... problem is, I have no idea myself.

And that's why I want to ask every English speaker here.

Do you have words or phrases for something where you go out to the streets and talk random people of opposite gender and of your liking into going out with you? Do boy / girl hunting sound approperiate? to me it doesn't much sound like English.

Blind date isn't exactly a matching equivalent because it's prearranged. Flirt... you can go to a party and flirt with random boys / girls, but you do so in a protected environment of some sort, such as a party, where talking to random people is relatively easy.

Nanpa takes a lot of heart and bravado... I don't even think it's a common practice in North America. (but then maybe I'm just naive)

But if you can come up with equivalent words or phrases please, I'm very curious and I'd like to know. And thank you Itasan, for bringing up the question, it's something I would've forgotten had it not been brought up.

[Itasan]

Thank you, HaraKiri. I was not thinking about 'nanpa' when I posted my question. But 'nanpa' is spot on. It is what I wanted to say if I was to say the idea in Japanese. As you know, the word does not sound very agreeable, especially to such an old man like me, because going out to randomly pick up youngsters of opposite sex does not seem very nice. Anyway, 'nanpa' is an established vocabulary which any Japanese would understand. Maybe some Japanese people (including myself) prefer 'boy/girl hunt' because it sounds nicer as it is not original Japanese.
Anyway, I would also like to know more English words meaning nearly the same thing.

[Tdol]

We have a cooloquial expression 'on the prowl', which carries a very similar idea to 'hunt'.

[HaraKiriBlade]

I think 'on the prowl' sounds more fitting for likes of sexual predators waiting on its prey... doesn't it contain such connotation?