Single people rate ‘meaningful conversation’ most important factor when looking for a relationship

It was rated as more important than physical attraction

Olivia Petter
Wednesday 25 April 2018 14:27 EDT
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What do you look for in a romantic partner?

A love of the outdoors? A penchant for peanut butter? Large… hands?

According to a new survey on 2,000 singletons conducted by dating app Plenty of Fish, the most important trait single people look for is “meaningful conversation”.

That’s right, it turns out we’re all a little bit deeper than we thought.

While popular culture might have us believe that bulging biceps and a Kardashian-worthy pout are the fast-track for finding love at first swipe, the truth is everyone’s just looking for a bit of good old-fashioned conversation.

The survey found that good communication rated higher than physical attraction, while 58 per cent of respondents cited bad grammar as the biggest deal-breaker, placing it higher than bad sex - cue hundreds of dating app users vowing never to date an apostrophe again because the last one was too possessive.

When it comes to the initial stages of dating, conversation is clearly crucial, as 60 per cent of respondents said they believe it’s possible to fall in love after just one chat.

Plus, another 87 per cent said they found someone more attractive after a good conversation.

So, if conversations are so important, evidently the topics you choose to discuss are of equal significance.

According to the survey, dating app users are fed-up of talking about President Trump, with 51 per cent of respondents citing this as their most insipid topic.

Meanwhile, 20 per cent claimed to be bored of talking about speciality diets (sorry, vegans) while another 18 per cent said they were tired of discussing “millennials vs. everyone else” i.e. avocado toast vs. buttered toast.

The survey also found that political ideologies were of paramount importance during initial conversations, with 59 per cent of respondents declaring that they wouldn’t start a conversation with someone who's dating profile promoted an opposite political opinion to theirs.

Talk isn’t so cheap after all.

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