Is there anything harder on the ego than being rejected? I suspect that is one reason many married persons are happy they are no longer playing the dating game. It hurts too much when someone rejects you. “What’s wrong with me?” is the question we inevitably ask.

Charles R. Boatman tells about a strange, new twist on this ancient ritual. He notes that traditionally, the male of our species makes the first approach in the dating game. Men have developed all sorts of pick-up lines to interest the women they are attracted to. An important step in the process is a request for the woman’s phone number.

What if the woman is totally uninterested, however, but doesn’t want to crush the poor fellow’s fragile ego in a public place? The option of giving a false phone number has been around a long t…