What Kind of Girl Are You?
 

The Girl Next Door

I come from a home where gravy is a beverage.
-- Erma Bombeck

The Girl Next Door is from a small town, a large family, or both. She still has a healthy dose of what people 'round these parts call "family values." She calls her grandparents every Sunday and she's got her mom on speed dial. The Girl Next Door likes an uncomplicated life filled with the simple pleasures of family, home, kids, and food. She may not actually live on a farm, but she tends to keep a menagerie. Asked to choose between a dog and a cat, she generally won't. What's a good guard dog without a mouser to keep it company? She is caring and warm, welcoming and friendly. Anybody in your office ever bring in chocolate chip cookies? You got yourself a Girl Next Door.

The defining characteristics of the Girl Next Door are simplicity and tradition. Simplicity means that, unlike the Academic Girl, she's really not that interested in the great questions that keep philosophers up at night. When she can sit in the kitchen, drinking coffee, eating shortbread cookies with a friend, and listening to the cat purr on top of the radiator, what else is there to life? What else, indeed.

She Might Be a Girl Next Door if:

She drives: a good, solid American car -- a Ford Taurus, Chevy Cavalier, or Dodge Stratus.
She can talk for more than ten minutes about: her family's holiday traditions.
She begins her sentences with: "my mother says..."
She'd never: go to a rave.
She owns any of the following: scrapbooks, heirloom quilts, a Bible, family recipes, her grandmother's engagement ring.

THE PROGRESSIVE GIRL

Imagine that the Girl Next Door moved to the big city. Think of Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. She's America's sweetheart with an urban sensibility. She's a post-Christian spiritualist, a pre-Monica Clintonite, and a dues-paying member of at least one social-change organization like NOW, Planned Parenthood, or the Sierra Club. You won't find her at an Earth First or PETA meeting, though. Those are the Granola Girl's stomping grounds. Progressive Girls want the world to be a better place, but they live out their politics in a moderate, left-of-center way.

If you are going to date a Progressive Girl, the one sin you can commit is to be a chameleon. Molding your opinions to fit hers will lose her respect. One very positive thing you can do is offer her new experiences -- the Progressive Girl is fearless about trying new things. Whether it's pluralism, skydiving, Asian peanut sauce, or this book, the Progressive Girl is always looking for new ideas.

She Might Be a Progressive Girl if:

She drives: a small SUV but really wishes it got better mileage; once she can get a good hybrid, she will.
She can talk for more than ten minutes about: just about anything.
She begins her sentences with: "Susan Sarandon says..."
She'd never: pass up the chance for a new experience.
She owns any of the following: a water filter, a tabletop fountain, an acre of rain forest, a mutt from the pound.
Wanna know more about the Progressive Girl? We’ll tell you which CDs to play, shoes to wear, magazines to put on the coffee table, flowers to bring ... and of course, what to cook. Pick up a copy of Cooking to Hook Up.



© 2004 Ann Marie Michaels and Drew Campbell. All rights reserved.
Site designed by Ann Marie Michaels and Brain Syndicate.

Everything hit me to a t, even that I drive an SUV

party girl. cool.

Looks like I'm an indie/gourmet hybrid:

She Might Be a Indie Girl if:

1. She drives: a classic car, a VW beetle, a Mini Cooper, or a Vespa scooter.
2. She can talk for more than ten minutes about: obscure pop culture.
3. She begins her sentences with: "It's like that Simpsons episode . . ."
4. She'd never: drive a mini-van.
5. She owns any of the following: TiVo, a mini-DV camera, an iPod, a pottery wheel, a serger, or a lava lamp.


She Might Be a Gourmet Girl if:

1. She drives: a practical car, often higher end. Japanese or European, but always highly rated (Gourmet Girls do their research). Volvo, Volkswagen, Honda, etc.
2. She can talk for more than ten minutes about: The difference between a California chardonnay and a French sauvignon blanc.
3. She begins her sentences with: "Jeffrey Steingarten says..."
4. She'd never: drink wine out of a box.
5. She owns any of the following: Kitchen Aid mixer, a complete set of All Clad pots and pans, Silpat baking mats, tins of foie gras she brought back from France.


...I'd have to say all of that is fairly accurate!

I'm the Career Girl.

I'm so not surprised. ;)

I'm a hybriod of the Girl-Next-Door and the Progressive Girl.

The Girl Next Door is from a small town, a large family, or both. She still has a healthy dose of what people 'round these parts call "family values." She calls her grandparents every Sunday and she's got her mom on speed dial. The Girl Next Door likes an uncomplicated life filled with the simple pleasures of family, home, kids, and food. She may not actually live on a farm, but she tends to keep a menagerie. Asked to choose between a dog and a cat, she generally won't. What's a good guard dog without a mouser to keep it company? She is caring and warm, welcoming and friendly. Anybody in your office ever bring in chocolate chip cookies? You got yourself a Girl Next Door.

The defining characteristics of the Girl Next Door are simplicity and tradition. Simplicity means that, unlike the Academic Girl, she's really not that interested in the great questions that keep philosophers up at night. When she can sit in the kitchen, drinking coffee, eating shortbread cookies with a friend, and listening to the cat purr on top of the radiator, what else is there to life? What else, indeed.

She Might Be a Girl Next Door if:

She drives: a good, solid American car -- a Ford Taurus, Chevy Cavalier, or Dodge Stratus.
She can talk for more than ten minutes about: her family's holiday traditions.
She begins her sentences with: "my mother says..."
She'd never: go to a rave.
She owns any of the following: scrapbooks, heirloom quilts, a Bible, family recipes, her grandmother's engagement ring.
------------------------
Imagine that the Girl Next Door moved to the big city. Think of Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. She's America's sweetheart with an urban sensibility. She's a post-Christian spiritualist, a pre-Monica Clintonite, and a dues-paying member of at least one social-change organization like NOW, Planned Parenthood, or the Sierra Club. You won't find her at an Earth First or PETA meeting, though. Those are the Granola Girl's stomping grounds. Progressive Girls want the world to be a better place, but they live out their politics in a moderate, left-of-center way.

If you are going to date a Progressive Girl, the one sin you can commit is to be a chameleon. Molding your opinions to fit hers will lose her respect. One very positive thing you can do is offer her new experiences -- the Progressive Girl is fearless about trying new things. Whether it's pluralism, skydiving, Asian peanut sauce, or this book, the Progressive Girl is always looking for new ideas.

She Might Be a Progressive Girl if:

She drives: a small SUV but really wishes it got better mileage; once she can get a good hybrid, she will.
She can talk for more than ten minutes about: just about anything.
She begins her sentences with: "Susan Sarandon says..."
She'd never: pass up the chance for a new experience.
She owns any of the following: a water filter, a tabletop fountain, an acre of rain forest, a mutt from the pound.

Indie Girl!


It's no good pretending that any relationship has a future if your record collections disagree violently or if your favorite films wouldn't even speak to each other if they met at a party.
-- Nick Hornby, High Fidelity
An Indie Girl's life is a Statement with a capital S, but unlike the Granola Girl, the statement is not political -- it's artistic. Indie Girls consider themselves actresses in the movie of life. Your meal needs to be constructed like an independent film. If you're bringing her over for a date, you are playing a character in her movie. If you create a setting, props, and a soundtrack that are good enough to avoid the cutting-room floor, she's yours.

You can boil the Indie Girl down to two words: cultural literacy. Or how about these two: media consumption. As the Gourmet Girl loves food and all that goes with it, the Indie Girl loves media: books, movies, music, and art. The good news is you don't have to be rich, good-looking, or famous to win this girl's heart. The bad news is she will judge you based on your music choices, the books you read, and the films you watch.

She Might Be a Indie Girl if:

She drives: a classic car, a VW beetle, a Mini Cooper, or a Vespa scooter.
She can talk for more than ten minutes about: obscure pop culture.
She begins her sentences with: "It's like that Simpsons episode . . ."
She'd never: drive a mini-van.
She owns any of the following: TiVo, a mini-DV camera, an iPod, a pottery wheel, a serger, or a lava lamp.

Dear God. I don't even have to take the quiz to tell you I'm at least part Girl Next Door. I own all of the above.

EDIT: I'm actually a GND/Progressive Girl mix.

I'm an Uptown Girl...

I've been rich and I've been poor. Rich is better.
-- Sophie Tucker


If her last name is a household word, like Disney or Kellogg, chances are she's an Uptown Girl with a trust fund the size of Texas. But it isn't wealth that defines the Uptown Girl, it's breeding and decorum (unless she's a Party/Uptown hybrid like those Wild On royals or the aristobrat child of a celebrity). A true Uptown Girl has Park Avenue taste and the manners of Emily Post, at least when Mummy is watching.

The Uptown Girl is a challenge -- one that requires a little more, well, money. Menus in this chapter are going to cost you more than the others because you will need a few premium ingredients to get this Girl's attention (read: oysters, caviar, and very expensive Champagne). If this is really the type of girl that you are after, you're probably used to this already. If you don't have the budget to support her tastes, we would suggest becoming a musician. Seems like those guys can always get women to buy them groceries.

She Might Be an Uptown Girl if:
She drives: a Jaguar, a Porsche, or a Rolls-Royce, or a limo with a driver and tinted, bulletproof windows.

She can talk for more than ten minutes about: being a debutante.

She begins her sentences with: "When we were on Martha's Vineyard..."

She'd never: fly coach.

She owns any of the following: an exotic toy breed dog, Waterford crystal, anything from Tiffany's, real pearls.

I'm a hybrid of Party Girl and Uptown Girl. It's pretty accurate - I don't have a lot of money, but I know how to act the part. ;)

I'm the party girl...not a shocker at all!

I like to have a martini, two at the very most -- after three I'm under the table; after four, I'm under the host. -- Dorothy Parker

Audrey Hepburn's character Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's is the quintessential Party Girl. Truman Capote named her for a woman who creates a holiday of life, and who takes it lightly. That classic scene of her standing in front of Tiffany's eating her breakfast roll and sipping coffee after being out on the town all night, her fridge with nothing in it, those wild cocktail parties. All very Party Girl.

New York City is also very Party Girl. As are LA, Miami Beach, London, Amsterdam, and of course, Vegas, baby, Vegas. Party Girls hate rural areas, because their worst nightmare is to be somewhere where there's nothing going on. The Party Girl is an extrovert, and she's usually very popular. If you're the kind of guy who likes to spend his Saturday nights watching DVDs or playing Scrabble, the Party Girl may be an unwise choice. She likes to have F-U-N.

If you want to keep up with this girl, you will need to know how to make a killer margarita, how to cure a hangover, and how to find the energy not to pull a wet-blanket, negatron move like falling asleep by the fifth club of the evening. (The answer to that last one is to have another vodka and Red Bull.)

She Might Be a Party Girl if:

1. She drives: a convertible or other sports car, or she rides on a "party bus" (you know, the ones that take you from bar to bar). Also: cabs and limousines.
2. She can talk for more than ten minutes about: the hottest bars, restaurants, and clubs -- in short, "the scene."
3. She begins her sentences with: "Make it a double."
4. She'd never: take up knitting.
5. She owns any of the following: cell phone, PDA or Filofax (to manage all her contacts), a sleeping mask and earplugs (since she often doesn't come home until the wee hours), travel-size toothbrushes and very dark sunglasses (for when she doesn't come home at all).

THE PROGRESSIVE GIRL

Imagine that the Girl Next Door moved to the big city. Think of Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. She's America's sweetheart with an urban sensibility. She's a post-Christian spiritualist, a pre-Monica Clintonite, and a dues-paying member of at least one social-change organization like NOW, Planned Parenthood, or the Sierra Club. You won't find her at an Earth First or PETA meeting, though. Those are the Granola Girl's stomping grounds. Progressive Girls want the world to be a better place, but they live out their politics in a moderate, left-of-center way.

If you are going to date a Progressive Girl, the one sin you can commit is to be a chameleon. Molding your opinions to fit hers will lose her respect. One very positive thing you can do is offer her new experiences -- the Progressive Girl is fearless about trying new things. Whether it's pluralism, skydiving, Asian peanut sauce, or this book, the Progressive Girl is always looking for new ideas.

She Might Be a Progressive Girl if:

She drives: a small SUV but really wishes it got better mileage; once she can get a good hybrid, she will.
She can talk for more than ten minutes about: just about anything.
She begins her sentences with: "Susan Sarandon says..."
She'd never: pass up the chance for a new experience.
She owns any of the following: a water filter, a tabletop fountain, an acre of rain forest, a mutt from the pound.
Wanna know more about the Progressive Girl? We’ll tell you which CDs to play, shoes to wear, magazines to put on the coffee table, flowers to bring ... and of course, what to cook. Pick up a copy of Cooking to Hook Up.




They have me all wrong, I tell ya!

I'm a strange hybrid of Indie Girl and Uptown Girl. Honestly, though I can ramble on about obscure pop-culture, I'm more uptown than indie. I like Tiffany jewelry and Chanel entirely too much. :) I would however, drive a Mini Cooper.