New research reveals the biggest ‘icks’ in a potential partner are smelling bad for men and foul manners for women, though poor grammar on text messages and ‘your date looking like a relative’ are also big no-nos.
A unique survey of Amazon’s 70,000-strong UK workforce reveals an unrivalled snapshot of modern-day relationships, including biggest turn-offs and how long it takes to introduce a new flame to your family.
As well as the UK’s overall trends, we can also reveal Swansea’s biggest dating ‘icks’.
As millions of people head out on Valentine’s Day dates this week, it’s worth checking in on some of the dodgiest habits – with creating a bad smell topping the list for women (37%) and foul manners (34%) for men in the UK-wide survey.
Third on the ick list for Amazon workers was someone eating with their mouth open. Using too many emojis when texting (you know who you are) was more irksome than being badly dressed, your date looking like a relative or possessing poor grammar.
But finding out your date looks like a family member was seven times more problematic for people from midlands towns Coventry, Leicester and Derby – where one in 14 (7%) people said it was their biggest turn off – compared to London where one in 100 said the same.
Being rude to waiting or bar staff – according to women – is the worst thing a partner can do on a date (50%), worse than someone not turning up at all (39%) or the wrong person appearing instead (33%).
Women also hate their partners talking about themselves non–stop – 36% said this would ruin their date versus only 25% of men.
When it comes to making a good impression, what you pick to eat is important, too. Three in 10 people (29%) said avoiding very spicy food was important for the sake of decorum, while 21% said that smelly tinned fish should be off the menu entirely for date nights. Messy burgers are a danger zone for dates, too, with 12% saying they are the worst thing to order on a date.
In Swansea, dates who smell bad top the list of ‘icks’ with 41% of those surveyed saying this was the most off-putting. This was closely followed by bad manners with 32%, then eating with your mouth open (15%).
| Biggest Ick | Swansea |
| Smell bad | 41% |
| Bad manners | 32% |
| Eating with their mouth open | 15% |
| Badly dressed | 3% |
| Looking like or reminding you of a relative | 2% |
| Too many emojis when texting | 2% |
| Bad grammar | 2% |
What are your biggest dating ‘icks’? Let us know in the comments below!
