3

What does "walk full length of the counter " mean? The original sentence is:

Where all these technologies in looking for the ideal partner err is in having to make one’s selection before walking the full length of the counter. Internet romance increases access to a longer counter.

Improve this question
4
  • Paraphrased: "The common error in how these companies select business partners is they make their choice before surveying all the options available to them". Picture being in a store with a long, colorful, and alluring candy counter (a long table, like the bar in a tavern, where all the different kind of candies are laid out). Say you only have enough money to buy one kind of candy. Now say you walk halfway to the end of the counter and see some jelly beans which look absolutely delicious, so you stop there, grab the jelly beans, and walk back to the cash register to buy them.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Apr 10, 2015 at 12:50
  • The author of that quote is saying that you've made an error: what if, at the very end of the counter, which you never got to because you picked the jelly beans and left, there was an even more delicious kind of candy? Say gummy bears, which are your favorite candy in the whole world? Well, now you've missed out. You've bought the jelly beans and can't have the gummy bears. All because you didn't walk the full length of the [candy] counter before you made your choice. Too bad.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Apr 10, 2015 at 12:53
  • (That said, at first blush, this seems like a whinge from the circus peanuts, the grossest possible candy, that no one has picked him).
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Apr 10, 2015 at 12:53
  • Supermarket and department store designers know all about this error. They put the items they want to push at the ends of the aisles.
    – Barmar
    Commented Apr 10, 2015 at 21:35

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

The image that comes to mind is that of a buffet, an elongated serving table (counter) with many different dishes.

People usually walk by in a line, following each other. If you don't know what dishes there are further on, you may fill your plate with food in the beginning, only to discover that further down the line there were other dishes that you would have liked a lot better.

The author compares the selection of a partner to choosing food from such a counter. By stating that the error of modern technologies is that you have to chose before walking the whole counter, the author indicates that if you find a partner using modern technologies, you are likely to find someone more suitable later on.

Internet romances make sure that the buffet where we can "pick" a partner becomes longer and longer, we have more choice, and less chance of knowing what to expect further down the line (ergo, more chance to become disappointed with our initial choice!)

Improve this answer
-1

Associated idiom:

ran the [/full/entire/whole/] gauntlet (of) to suffer or be exposed to criticism, blame, danger etc (of)

You don't want to go through that entire experience of ...

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    Is online dating really that onerous?
    – Barmar
    Commented Apr 10, 2015 at 21:50

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .