Somewhere in Stanford, California, an undergrad is telling his roommates that he landed a Friday night date because he tried a billionaire’s pickup line.
These are just a few scenes from the weekend frenzy in New York City around Bill Ackman’s four-word piece of dating advice: “May I meet you?”
He posted the line as earnest advice for young men who, in his view, now avoid spontaneous interactions because dating apps dominate their social lives.
So when young adults do contemplate approaching someone in person, the stakes feel disproportionately high. Not only does the rejection happen live, but the reasons behind it remain ambiguous: Was the timing off? Was the approach unwelcome? Was the other person taken, distracted, or uninterested? Carbino said in an interview with Fortune that the ambiguity intensifies the emotional risk.
That helps explain why Ackman’s line, despite its old-fashioned tone, spoke to people, Carbino said. Its formality made it ripe for parody, but it offered something many young adults quietly want: a structure, Carbino said.
“Gen Z speaks more casually,” she said. “Politeness works, but formality can backfire.”
Something like “Can I talk to you?” or “May I get to know you?” she said, captures the same spirit while sounding human and contemporary.
Pershing Square, Ackman’s hedge fund, declined to comment for the story.
Still, Carbino believes that the weekend’s fixation has little to do with the elegance of the line itself. It’s more about that vulnerability underneath; the desire to be noticed, the fear of approaching and the gulf of loneliness that sits between the two.
“He tapped into isolation,” she said. “He tapped into how badly people want connection and how uncertain they feel about how to start.”
