Looking for a flatmate or a boyfriend?
I saw this post at a forum at work and did a bit of a double take (names and details edited out):
“Hello! We are M and S and we are looking for a friendly, tidy professional to live with us, preferably a gay male between 23 and 33. M is 23, gay and works at the XXXXXXXX. S is 30, straight and works at the (where I work). Our flat is over the two top floors in a lovely sandstone Georgian house with a curly banister. There is a big garden, a bike-shed and two social areas - Big kitchen with dining table and large lounge with big sash windows, a vast picture of Audrey Hepburn over the fireplace and plenty of light. Newly renovated last year, it is clean and cream throughout (sort of biscuity-coloured carpet) with a duck egg blue bathroom.” (rest of ad removed, had stuff about being sociable and sharing a couple of communal rooms)
This struck me as being a very odd and almost explicit sort of advert. Is M looking for something more than just someone to pay the bills? If so this strikes me as a bit of an intense start! Personally I would rather any prospective girlfriend had her own place to stay rather than ‘immediately’ moving in. Maybe the prospective in the gay community is different?
Now I assume what this advert is trying to say is that they want someone open minded and with similar interests. It just goes to show how writing something badly or out of sync with ‘conventional’ thinking can drastically alter the meaning for other people. Either that or my brain is not working properly! Personally, I would have said things like “non-smoker, professional, comfortable with living with gay and straight people, looking for a compatible and sociable flatmate with similar interests…etc” I suppose on a positive note, it is nice to see people are comfortable and confident enough to post this sort of advert publicly at work with no fear of discrimination. I just think the way this has been worded, is likely to put potential people off.
“Hello! We are M and S and we are looking for a friendly, tidy professional to live with us, preferably a gay male between 23 and 33. M is 23, gay and works at the XXXXXXXX. S is 30, straight and works at the (where I work). Our flat is over the two top floors in a lovely sandstone Georgian house with a curly banister. There is a big garden, a bike-shed and two social areas - Big kitchen with dining table and large lounge with big sash windows, a vast picture of Audrey Hepburn over the fireplace and plenty of light. Newly renovated last year, it is clean and cream throughout (sort of biscuity-coloured carpet) with a duck egg blue bathroom.” (rest of ad removed, had stuff about being sociable and sharing a couple of communal rooms)
This struck me as being a very odd and almost explicit sort of advert. Is M looking for something more than just someone to pay the bills? If so this strikes me as a bit of an intense start! Personally I would rather any prospective girlfriend had her own place to stay rather than ‘immediately’ moving in. Maybe the prospective in the gay community is different?
Now I assume what this advert is trying to say is that they want someone open minded and with similar interests. It just goes to show how writing something badly or out of sync with ‘conventional’ thinking can drastically alter the meaning for other people. Either that or my brain is not working properly! Personally, I would have said things like “non-smoker, professional, comfortable with living with gay and straight people, looking for a compatible and sociable flatmate with similar interests…etc” I suppose on a positive note, it is nice to see people are comfortable and confident enough to post this sort of advert publicly at work with no fear of discrimination. I just think the way this has been worded, is likely to put potential people off.