behaviors that boy show to attract girls

[alpacinou]

Is there a word for behaviors that boys engage in to attract girls?

I thought about using "courtship display". Is it old-fashioned?

There was a women only swimming pool in our alley. There were always boys buzzing around on their bikes, performing courtship displays, popping wheelies on their bikes, doing their best to attract girls refreshed out of the pool.

 

[tedmc]

Score points?

 

[Tdol]

I wouldn't use courtship here- you have the right tone, but I would do something about refreshed.

 

[Tdol]

PS Yes, it is old-fashioned.

 

[alpacinou]

I wouldn't use courtship here- you have the right tone, but I would do something about refreshed.

What do you suggest I use instead of it?

 

[tedmc]

"Fresh out of the pool"? The word can have two meanings in the context.

I can't imagine "a swimming pool in an alley".
It is a "ladies/females-only pool".

 

[5jj]

It is a "ladies/females-only pool".

Women-only is fine.

 

[alpacinou]

My focus is to find something to replace "courtship display" in this sentence:

There was a women only swimming pool in our alley. There were always boys buzzing around on their bikes, performing courtship displays, popping wheelies on their bikes, doing their best to attract girls.

 

[5jj]

In that particular sentence, I would use show off. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/show-off

 

[Tdol]

Showing off/posing

 

[probus]

I don't think "courtship display" is particulary old-fashioned. It's a technical term that biologists use in describing animal behaviour. Of course we are animals but we don't often describe human behaviour as a "courtship display."

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

My focus is on finding something to replace "courtship display" in this sentence:

There was a women-only swimming pool on our street. There were always boys buzzing around on their bikes, showing off, popping wheelies[STRIKE] on their bikes[/STRIKE], doing their best to impress the girls.

That's more natural.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Does that make sense, Al?

 

[alpacinou]

Does that make sense, Al?

It sure does. Thank you as always.

I remember once hearing "courtship display" on a TV show about what some guys were doing at dance club to attract women. I don't remember what show it was. I think they were using it humorously or maybe the characters were biologists or something like that.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

It sure does. Thank you as always.

I remember once hearing "courtship display" on a TV show about what some guys were doing at dance club to attract women. I don't remember what show it was. I think they were using it humorously or maybe the characters were biologists or something like that.

Yes, the narrator was probably having fun imitating a zoologist.

I think you might have mixed up alley with small street. An alley isn't a small street, it's a passage between streets.