One of the planets in the Miles Vorkosigan sagas has this whole system whereby ear jewelry indicates status: single and looking; single but not looking; straight, gay, or hermaphrodite, etc ... made a lot of sense to me. Has to beat the personals any day. A good friend married a guy she met through the personals and it was a disaster from day 1. (She's very happy w/ someone else now; she tells me to never give up.)

M.A., silver haired and overweight