Little Words to Win Your Quarry's Heart

Huntresses, when you ask your Quarry to give you a hand, watch your words. The subtleties that seep up out of the smoldering communications gap are endless. For example, Huntresses, suppose you're at the beach with your Quarry. You pull your sunglasses out of your beach bag and, whoops, the little screw that holds the earpiece to the rim falls out. You look up at your mechanically minded boyfriend and say sweetly, "Could you fix this for me?"
TECHNIQUE #71 (FOR HUNTRESSES): ASK WOULD NOT COULD Huntresses, this is subtle stuff indeed, but say would instead of could when asking your Quarry for favors. When he hears could, the competitive beast hears a challenge to his experitise, not a request for his valuable services. If he takes the sunglasses out of your hand and gruffly says, "Of course I can," you may think he's being a tad brutish. But he hasn't heard your request the way you meant it. The male brain hears could literally as "Are you able to fix this for me?" That's a veiled challenge. It's asking him if he is capable of helping you. Say, "Would you give me a hand with this?" It's a subtle difference of one letter, but would assumes that of course he is capable, and it offers him the opportunity to be gallant. Hunters, here are two little words to win her heart and convince your Quarry that you are a rare man indeed. Ask her to sit down before you utter them, because a woman is so unaccustomed to hearing these two words from a man that she may topple over. (And probably will . . . right into your arms.) If something goes wrong in your relationship, or you have messed up in any way, simply say—here goes—"I'm sorry." Women say these words often, in fact too much. Men never say them. (The last recorded instance of a male saying "I'm sorry" was in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1907. Upon further investigation, however, it was discovered that the speaker was just a man named Rory trying to introduce himself in spite of having a mouthful of food.) TECHNIQUE #72 (FOR HUNTERS): I'M SORRY Hunters, when you mess up, simply have the courage to say "I'm sorry." When you see how your Quarry warms to you, you won't be sorry you said it.