[Vocabulary] what really does "pick up a girl" mean?

[ecker]

That's my question. I'm not sure what pick up a girl mean.

e.g.: if I say "Carl picked up a girl at a club last night"

It means Carl flirted with her (attempt to kiss her or specific puporse) or Carl kissed her (he got his goal)

Thanks everybody for helping me

 

[buggles]

That's my question. I'm not sure what pick up a girl mean.

e.g.: if I say "Carl picked up a girl at a club last night"

It means Carl flirted her (attempt to kiss her or something specific) or Carl kissed her (he got his goal)

Thanks everybody for helping me

It usually implies a little more than that.



If Carl managed to pick up a girl at the club, he at least saw her home and probably also arranged to see her again.


buggles (not a teacher)

 

[ecker]

Thank you, buggles!!

So, I think "how to pick up a girl" doesn't mean "how to flirt with a girl", is that right? (informal)

 

[Barb_D]

Hi ecker,
You flirt WITH someone.

How to pick up a girl might be how to successfully flirt with a girl, but the implication is that this young lady will go home with you.

 

[vil]

pick up = make a casual acquaintance with, especially in anticipation of sexual relations

Regards,

V.

 

[Tdol]

Thank you, buggles!!

So, I think "how to pick up a girl" doesn't mean "how to flirt a girl", is that right? (informal)

No, it's more than that.

 

[BobK]

Hi ecker,
You flirt WITH someone.

How to pick up a girl might be how to successfully flirt with a girl, but the implication is that this young lady will go home with you.

:up: Or to put it another way, the verb 'flirt' is intransitive. (Any decent dictionary would tell you this, often with the abbreviation 'intr' or 'intrans' ;-))

b

 

[konungursvia]

I have noticed a pair of different uses in American English, by women and men. For men, to "pick up" a girl means to successfully introduce himself and obtain her approval as a potential mate -- whether this means getting her telephone number, driving her home, or more.

For women here, having a guy "pick you up" seems to include both the men's definition, and any "attempt" to meet her as well. Men don't count their own failures as picking women up, whereas from the women's point of view, all approaches are small successes, and are also counted as "being picked up."

 

[Barb_D]

I can't say that matches my definition of the phrase. If I don't respond to your attempts, you "tried" to pick me up, or that was an attempted pick up, but not a pick up. (You may use a "pick-up line" on me, but that's still not a pick up.)

Perhaps things are different where you live.

 

[vil]

I'm not a teacher.

Hi ecker,

pick up = make a casual acquaintance with, especially in anticipation of sexual relations, as in A stranger tried to pick her up at the bus station. (in your case: "Carl picked up a girl at a club last night"

How to attract women | How to pick up women | How to seduce women.

How to pick up girls | Art of Seduction

Regards,

V.

 

[ecker]

Ok, I think I get it

Pick up a girl = to seduce a woman

 

[konungursvia]

I can't say that matches my definition of the phrase. If I don't respond to your attempts, you "tried" to pick me up, or that was an attempted pick up, but not a pick up. (You may use a "pick-up line" on me, but that's still not a pick up.)

Perhaps things are different where you live.

Perhaps... but it is noteworthy that 2 former girlfriends, when I was young(er), both occasionally said: "a guy picked me up last night/yesterday/at the mall".... much to my (unhappy) surprise. When I "interrogated" it came out that the guys tried to pick them up. One is Canadian, born in Colombia, the other is American, from Long Island, of Jewish extraction. That's what drew my attention to a potential difference. Since then, I have noticed women using the term more broadly than men. At least here.

 

[Barb_D]

Ok, I think I get it

Pick up a girl = to seduce a woman

More specifically, a woman you have just met.