The heart is the most common symbol of romantic love. Ancient cultures believed the human soul lived in the heart. Others thought it to be the source of emotion and intelligence. Some believed the heart embodied a man's truth, strength and nobility. The heart may be associated with love because the ancient Greeks believed it was the target of Eros, known as Cupid to the Romans. Anyone shot in the heart by one of Cupid's arrows would fall hopelessly in love. Because the heart is so closely linked to love, it's red color is thought to be the most romantic.

In a study respondents mentioned three qualities which they considered essential for happy, long-lasting relationships. Affection (touching, holding, stroking) was named most important by the majority, second only to communication. Sex, on the other hand, which they separated from affection, was relegated to eighth position.

The word "paradise" originally was the Persian word for a royal amusement park.

The one who plays hard to get tends to inspire more passion in the person who is trying to do the getting. And the romantic pushover inspires less amorous interest.

Experts insist that the average person falls in love seven times before marriage.

There's a curious difference in the ways that single girls and bachelors pick their romantic partners. The girl might have a dozen boyfriends, none of whom seems to be like another or anything like the sort of fellow she eventually winds up marrying. But the young bachelor is inclined to select all his lady friends, including finally his wife, for their similar qualities.

Women can talk longer with less effort than can men. That has been proved repeatedly. Why? Because the vocal cords of women are shorter than those of men and so release less air through them to carry the sound. It's all a matter of breathing.

A team of medical experts in Virginia contends you're more likely to catch the common cold virus by shaking hands than by kissing. 

Man is the only animal who'll eat with an enemy.

Many an early wooden bathtub was fitted with a shelf across the middle to hold food and drink. Oval in shape, said tub was designed so two people could face each other over the shelf, and dine. The practice was practical, to get the maximum out of a minimum of hot water. But it fell out of favor when Queen Victoria moved the morality of the western world.

Studies by Dr. Karl F. Robinson of Northwestern University reportedly prove that men change their minds two or three times more often than do women.

The average woman uses up approximately her height in lipstick every five years.

Ladies in nudist camps tend to use more makeup than ladies elsewhere.

Scholars recently returned from New Guinea said they noted a lot of elderly natives there had missing fingers. Research revealed that it was the custom some years ago for a young fighting man to give his lucky girlfriend a finger cut from the hand of an opponent. And said girlfriend wore that finger on a string around her neck.

Ladies, do you daub perfume between each of your toes? It's a matter of record that Cleopatra did. When she set out to meet Mark Anthony, history records, she even sprinkled perfume all over the sails of her barge.

When a man buys flowers, if ever, he tends to pick red. A woman, though, is inclined to go for pink, or blue, or whatever off-hue is at hand.

Copenhagen, Denmark (AP) - He just called to say he loved her. The problem was he did it over and over, running up a phone bill of at least $117,000 to his sweetheart in India. Now the 24-year-old Dane could face jail for fraud because he can't pay the bill, police said Friday. The lovesick Dane, whose name was not released, has never even met his 18-year-old flame from Madras, India. They got in touch through a magazine that publishes names and phone numbers of people all over the world who want to know foreigners. But the Dane clearly couldn't resist the sound of her voice. Police said the long-distance lovebirds once spent 21 of 24 hours on the phone to each other. He got away with it for so long by switching telephone companies. 

Most recent research indicates just about 9,000 romantic couples each year take out marriage licenses, then fail to use them.

Approximately three million women in the USA sport tattoos.

One hundred years ago, a woman thought herself to be particularly gifted if she were one of those who grew a faint moustache. That light down on the female face was considered most attractive then.

When Buster Mitchell's girlfriend walked out on him, he went back to his beloved and decided to make it legal with her. Mitchell, 28, went to the county courthouse in Knoxville, TN., and started filling out the marriage license application. He listed his fiancee's birthplace as Detroit, her father as "Henry Ford" and her blood type as "10-W-40" before the clerk stopped him -- Mitchell was trying to get a license to marry his car, a '66 Ford Mustang GT. "Why can't we do the good ol' boy thing and marry our cars and trucks?" he lamented later. He plans to try again elsewhere.

A lover on the island of Trobriand customarily bites off his lady friend's eyelashes. He would never take her out to dinner, however, unless they were married. To share a meal with her would disgrace her.

Ladies, can you see yourself wearing a wig with tresses eight feet long? Such there be. In Copenhagen, Denmark, brides rent it for weddings.

It's commonly believed a man picks out a wife who reminds him of his mother while a woman picks out a husband who reminds her of her father. But that's not right. Recent research indicates both the man and the woman are most influenced in their selection of matrimonial mates by their mothers. If a woman regards her mother as stern, she's likely to go for a stern husband. If she thinks of her mother as gentle, she looks for a gentle husband. The father of the bride or groom just doesn't have all that much to do with it, poor fellow.

It's reported that more than 10,000 marriages a year now are directly traceable to romances which begin during coffee breaks. 

It is a matter of record that romantic Canadian porcupines kiss one another on the lips.

The standard double bed for grownups is only twice as wide as the standard crib for infants. Ridiculous! For sound uninterrupted sleep, a double bed with two occupants should be 22 inches (55 cm) wider than it is according to the authorities who have made an extensive study of sleep, beds and widths of horizontal people.

King Ferrand of Portugal was held captive from 1213 to 1226 by the Turks. They demanded ransom, but Portugal's Queen Jeanne refused to pay for her husband's return. She had beaten him in a chess game, and he had therefore hit her on the nose with his fist. It upset her considerably. (Perhaps this is why many women don't play chess, and why we need to deal with pent-up anger before the game begins.)

The matrimonial pollsters contend their studies indicate the man who kisses his wife good-bye when he leaves for work every morning averages a higher income than does the fellow who doesn't do that thing. Husbands who exercise the rituals of affection tend to be more painstaking, more stable, more methodical, thus higher earners, it's believed.

It's the unmarried girl under the age of 21 who's statistically most inclined to get a headache. It's a proven fact, too, that few patients in mental hospitals eve get a headache.

Caesar was 54, Cleopatra 21 when they were romancing...

In medieval Italy kisses weren't taken -- or given -- lightly. If a man and a woman were seen embracing in public they could be forced to marry.

The longest kiss listed in the Guinness Book of World Records lasted an incredible 417 hours.

Husbands who kiss their wives before leaving home in the morning have been documented to live five years longer than those who do not. 

The German language contains 30 words that refer to the act of kissing. There is even a word, Nachkuss, for all the kisses that haven't yet been named.

All the women in the world put together weigh just about 85 per cent as much as all the men.

* 2 out of 5 have married their first love.

* Only 4% asked the parents' approval for their bride's hand.

* 1 in 5 men proposed on his knees.

* 6% propose over the phone. (And what percent said yes?)

It is far easier for any woman afoot than for any male pedestrian to catch a ride in traffic, no? No, not when it comes to the roving cab driver in big towns. They tend to pass up the little ladies to pick up the old boys every time when there's a choice. Men tip better. Much better.

One third of American-made movies have been westerns.

The first western movie was titled, "The Kiss."

Ladies, romance statisticians have calculated that the odds run 70 to one that you won't marry any of the boys in the office where you work. About 100 to one you won't marry your boss, and 1700 to one that you won't marry your doctor.

Whether women actually need more sleep than do men is not the point. The point is they take more sleep- ordinarily, an average of 52 minutes more during each 24 hours- according to a recent survey.

Women's hemlines go up as the economy gets better. They stay put when nothing happens in commerce. They go down when business drops off. Questions is why. Nobody knows why, evidently, but the record indicates the pattern dates back more than 65 years.

What business did J. Edgar Hoover begin back in 1941 that was accused of being "the new home of disease, bribery, corruption, crookedness, rape, white slavery, thievery and murder?"....... The Motels

It's the claim of a coin expert named Edward Rochette that the great Cleopatra was ugly. A piece of money was minted in Egypt during her reign there from 50 to 30 B.C. It shows her features to be almost grotesque. Rochette says those ancient coins were quite accurate. He also said it's highly doubtful a queen with Cleopatra's power would permit coinmakers to portray her as the possessor of forbidding features unless in fact she was downright homely. 

Florida law forbids a housewife there to break more than three dishes a day.

An ordinance in Carmel, California, makes it unlawful for a lady to take a bath in a business office.

A scholar who has made a study of genes contents left-handed mothers are more likely than left-handed fathers to produce left-handed children.

The ladies of old Rome customarily put perfumed swan's fat in their bathtubs filled with donkey milk.

Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year for the telephone companies. More cards are purchased for Mother's Day than any other occasion.

Honeymoon -  The word first appears in the 16th century. The honey is a reference to the sweetness of a new marriage. And the moon is not a reference to the lunar-based month, but rather a bitter acknowledgment that this sweetness, like a full moon, would quickly fade.

The primary ambition of a Zulu's wife is to help her husband acquire sufficient means to buy another wife...  so they can split the chores.

Do you know at what time of day or night you were born? Theory is spreading that your birth sets your physical clocks to ticking, thus determining at the outset whether you were to be a day or night person. If you were born around dawn, you're thought to do your best work in the early morning. But if you were born in the late afternoon, you're not expected to perk up really until the evening. Or so goes the notion.

Girls get about five times as many warts as do boys.

In men the hypothalamus (small organ near the brain stem) is larger than in most women. When provoked, the hypothalamus heightens rage, thirst, hunger and desire; possibly explaining boys' more rambunctious behavior.

Harvard University studies show that, when domestic differences arise, it's usually the spouse who does the most talking who gets his (or her) way.

A two-year study conducted at Stanford University  demonstrated that, other factors being equal, men are as much as 50 percent more proficient than women in solving complicated problems.

Studies conducted by University of Southern California psychologists show that women are more subject to feeling depressed and "down in the dumps" than men.

Psychological studies show conclusively that, while emergencies tend to upset a woman more, in a real crisis she is likely to remain calmer than the average male.

Only 14% of brides in the USA are engaged to the men they actually marry more than one year. Length of the average engagement is six months. Engagements that are considerably longer tend to raise the odds against happy matrimony.

What does "getting a Valentine" mean in criminal jargon? Receiving a one-year jail sentence.

Price of a new bride in Jamestown when the English first settled there was 120 pounds (54kg) of tobacco.

Are brides still for sale? In New Guinea they are, at least in the remoter highlands.

June is National Rose month.

Marital quarrels hit their peak in July. If you've kept notes on your spouse's temper-or yours-they'll confirm it. July is also tops for riots, criminal violence and hasty legislation. Oppressive heat and consequent loss of temper control are the causes.

Males are better in mechanical, arithmetical and abstract reasoning problems; females, in language, rote memory, social and esthetic tests. Because of these differences, it is not possible to compare the intelligence of the sexes in equal terms.