{"id":1396563,"date":"2017-03-09T12:00:55","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T17:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.sparknotes.com\/?p=1396563"},"modified":"2019-02-08T11:32:53","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T16:32:53","slug":"27-ways-to-respond-when-someone-asks-why-youre-still-single","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/27-ways-to-respond-when-someone-asks-why-youre-still-single\/","title":{"rendered":"27 Ways to Respond When Someone Asks Why You&#8217;re Still Single"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/img.sparknotes.com\/content\/sparklife\/sparktalk\/mar8waystorespondstillsingleMAIN_LargeWide.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"701\" height=\"394\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I cannot tell you how many times I have been called upon to explain my utter and complete lack of boyfriend. Typically, I alternate between two main responses, which are 1) shrugging and 2) making noncommittal mouth sounds. It almost always happens at family parties, and the question usually comes after &#8220;How&#8217;s school?&#8221; but before &#8220;How is [friend I \u00a0haven&#8217;t spoken to in about ten years and who may as well be dead to me]?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ve been there. I can tell. But hey, since we&#8217;re going to be parrying these questions at every family gathering and holiday party from now until the day we die, we might as well be ready. So when they ask &#8220;When are you ever going to bring a boy around for us to meet?&#8221;, you simply say\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p>1. Tis neither here nor <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/shakespeare\/othello\/\" target=\"_blank\">there<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>2. The more I know of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/sensibility\/\" target=\"_blank\">the world<\/a>, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love.<\/p>\n<p>3. I am too blunt and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/shakespeare\/\" target=\"_blank\">saucy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>4. I am pigeon-liver&#8217;d and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/shakespeare\/hamlet\/\" target=\"_blank\">lack gall<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>5. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/pride\/\" target=\"_blank\">My good opinion<\/a>, once lost, is lost forever.<\/p>\n<p>6. I have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/emma\/\" target=\"_blank\">never<\/a> been in love; it is not my way, or my nature.<\/p>\n<p>7. I care for no man on earth, and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/twocities\/\" target=\"_blank\">no man on earth<\/a> cares for me.<\/p>\n<p>8. They&#8217;re a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/gatsby\/\" target=\"_blank\">rotten<\/a> crowd.<\/p>\n<p>9. Cows are my <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dombey_and_Son\" target=\"_blank\">passion<\/a>. What I have ever sighed for, has been to retreat to a Swiss farm, and live entirely surrounded by cows.<\/p>\n<p>10. [Exeunt, pursued by a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/shakespeare\/winterstale\/\" target=\"_blank\">bear<\/a>.]<\/p>\n<p>11. I am so foolishly shy, that I often seem negligent, when I am only kept back by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/sensibility\/\" target=\"_blank\">my natural awkwardness<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>12. \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/shakespeare\/lear\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ask me not.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>13. What have I done that thou dar&#8217;st wag thy tongue in noise <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/shakespeare\/hamlet\/\" target=\"_blank\">so rude<\/a> against me?<\/p>\n<p>14. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/shakespeare\/lear\/\" target=\"_blank\">Darkness and devils!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>15. Whenever you feel like criticizing any one, just remember that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/gatsby\/\" target=\"_blank\">all the people in this world<\/a> haven&#8217;t had the advantages that you&#8217;ve had.<\/p>\n<p>16. I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/janeeyre\/\" target=\"_blank\">an independent will<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>17. I am becoming <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Curious_Case_of_Benjamin_Button_(short_story)\" target=\"_blank\">more and more<\/a> attracted by the gay side of life.<\/p>\n<p>18. Not all those who <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/fellowship\/\" target=\"_blank\">wander<\/a> are lost.<\/p>\n<p>19. I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/sensibility\/\" target=\"_blank\">every point<\/a> coincide with my own.<\/p>\n<p>20. \u00a0That little word &#8220;why&#8221; has run through \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Demons_(Dostoyevsky_novel)\" target=\"_blank\">all universe<\/a> \u00a0from the first day of creation&#8230;and for seven thousand years it has had no answer.<\/p>\n<p>21. I always deserve the best treatment because I <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/emma\/\" target=\"_blank\">never<\/a> put up with any other.<\/p>\n<p>22. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/persuasion\/\" target=\"_blank\">Anybody<\/a> between fifteen and thirty may have me for asking.<\/p>\n<p>23. Oft expectation fails, and most oft there where most it <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/shakespeare\/allswell\/\" target=\"_blank\">promises<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>24. Men <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/shakespeare\/hamlet\/\" target=\"_blank\">don&#8217;t interest<\/a> me. No\u2014women neither.<\/p>\n<p>25. The worst of having a romance of any kind is that it leaves one so <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/doriangray\/\" target=\"_blank\">unromantic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>26. I am unlike other people, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/lit\/mansfieldpark\/\" target=\"_blank\">I dare say<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>27. Let me be boiled to death with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sparknotes.com\/shakespeare\/twelfthnight\/\" target=\"_blank\">melancholy<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I cannot tell you how many times I have been called upon to explain my utter and complete lack of boyfriend. Typically, I alternate between two main responses, which are 1) shrugging and 2) making   <a class=\"continue-reading\" href=\"#\"><span class=\"continue-text\">continue reading<\/span><svg class=\"continue-icon\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" alt=\"\">\n    <path fill=\"#007acd\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\" d=\"M13.442 5.558L19.885 12l-6.443 6.442-.884-.884 4.934-4.934L4 12.625v-1.25l13.492-.001-4.934-4.932.884-.884z\"><\/path>\n  <\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[438,628,2335,155],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396563"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1396563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1396563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1396563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1396563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1396563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}