The U.S. in Fifty Dates

R. Luke Dubois, artist and Assistant Professor of Integrated Digital Media, analyzed 21 dating websites by looking through 19 million dating profiles across the U.S., to pull out the words that appeared most often in each location. The results, mapped across America, were illustrated in this month's National Geographic, just in time for Valentine's Day. Some of the matches are more predictable than others : “platinum” in Los Angeles and “oil" in Texas. Others invoke a bit more of a double entendre. For example, “tryst” is the name of a popular café in the city, but could also bring to mind a secret affair on Capitol Hill.