We can all agree that the dating world is tricky to navigate, whether you’ve got a long-term lover, or have struck up a spark during lockdown. Tinder or Bumble? iMessage or video call? The dating dilemmas are endless. PrettyLittleThing has taken one for the team and delved deep into the dating pool to give you the lowdown on what we really think about chat up lines and the cheesy phrases that I’m sure all you babes have heard before.

Love them or hate them, chat up lines are a huge part of the dating culture, and they probably won’t stop appearing in our DMs any time soon. Now, that’s not to say that chat up lines can’t be entertaining and great to giggle over in a group chat with the girls – but what do we really think of them?

Would you fall for a chat up line?

PrettyLittleThing’s survey found that despite many of us finding them the ultimate cringe-inducer, over half (53%) of us have carried on talking to someone after they’ve dropped a cheesy line, with this number even higher at almost 3 in 5 (58%) in 16-24 year olds!

Over a third (35%) of us find chat up lines a big turn off, in comparison to just 17% who say that a chat up line is actually a turn on, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some exceptions. For the people of Nottingham, chat up lines work like a charm, with a third (33%) agreeing they are a turn on, so how do the other UK cities stack up?

The cities most turned on by chat up lines:

The virtual dating experts

It’s no surprise that 2020 has seen us turning to our dating apps more than ever before, as our chances of catching eyes with a potential lover at a bar or a bus stop have been wiped to almost zero. But what do we really think about finding the love of our life by swiping right?

When it comes to virtual dating, 22% of us actually prefer it to dating in real life – but let’s be honest, it is easier to escape the awks from behind a phone than from the other side of a table! However, Leos are by far the virtual dating experts, with almost 3 in 10 (29%) saying they would rather date virtually, followed by Libras and Geminis, both at 28%. At the other end of the scale, those with Pisces as their star sign are the least likely to want to date virtually, with just 14% preferring it to real life dating.

We all know that it can be tempting to open up the apps and get swiping when we have a minute to spare, but 42% of Brits said that they flick through dating apps when they’re bored as a way to pass the time. More shockingly, almost 3 in 10 people (29%) in relationships admitted that having so many potential dating opportunities only a swipe away, actually makes it harder to stay faithful in a relationship.

I’m sure I’ve heard that one before…

With so many chat up lines doing the rounds, there’s always a few that are bound to fall flat. Nothing is worse than hearing a line for what seems like the thousandth time before, but which chat up lines are the most popular on the internet and should probably be put to rest?

To reveal exactly which lines you should be avoiding, PrettyLittleThing turned to the data, collating over 5,000 chat up lines from online lists (yes, these exist – no, you probably shouldn’t use them), before compiling the ultimate list of cheesy chat up lines.

After scouring the internet to gather all of the chat up lines we could, we can reveal that “Do you believe in love at first sight – or should I walk by again?” was the line that cropped up the most, appearing 29 times within the lists analysed – cringe or what?! But maybe that isn’t the worst one of the bunch…

“Are you a parking ticket? Because you’ve got FINE written all over you” came out in second place, occurring 26 times, with “Is your name Google? Because you have everything I’ve been searching for” following in third. Now, I’m not sure about you, but I’d rather not be compared to an inanimate object, so these two in particular are probably best avoided.

Amy Simon, Head of PR at PrettyLittleThing comments:

“With 2020 throwing a spanner in the works for our normal social activities, like many other things, dating is one of the areas where we’ve had to get a bit more inventive. With nights out in busy bars no longer a way to meet the potential love of your life, dating apps have really become the norm.

“But with online dating inevitably comes people trying to show the best of their personality through quick messages and attempting to grab our attention long enough to stop us swiping right. Chat up lines can be a way of doing this, but as we’ve found, they aren’t for everyone – so if you’re going to use one, try something different from those overused phrases that we’ve all heard before!”