You walk down the street and an attractive person walks by. You notice. The question is, Do you notice well?

Checking people out effectively is a skill that many people don’t have. I remember a while back my sister, who was still in high school (an all-girls high school) visited me at college. As we walked through the streets of Athens I thought she would give herself whiplash the way she kept craning her neck to look at boys.

“!” she admonished me, “it’s as if you don’t even notice them – there are cute boys everywhere!”

I noticed them. I was just more subtle in my noticing. She looked like a hedgehog during the height mating season.

Besides the Whiplash Crane, some other checking out methods I have observed include:

  • Jeweled Admiration
    Back in college some of my fellow Swarm of Dyke members told me that the signature lesbian check out / pick-up was to touch and compliment a girl’s necklace.
    Reverse Head Placement Last night I was taking out my trash – sexy, I know – and some guy was walking with his buddy across the streetfrom where I live. The entire time he walked, away from me I might add, his neck was turned entirely around watching me. How he kept walking without falling over amazes me.
  • Hollah
    This is when guy walk or drive past you (or maybe they do it to you while you drive or walk by) and they just yell. Sometimes they’re actually saying words, sometimes just yelling… “Hey! Hey! I said, Hey!”
  • Bark
    In high school we did this exchange program with an all-boys high school where we talked about sex and whatnot. Some guy got the lucky privilege of walking through group of ten or so of us all girls) to the classroom where we would be talking. He led us on the scenic route so he could be seen by as many people as possible at school with girls. When he led us through the cafeteria, boys started barking at us! And, some of the boys barking were doing so to girls in our group they were dating!