What are people's opinions on Barney from How I Met Your Mother?

intjpua · 2011-04-07T19:46:59+00:00

"Have you met Ted?" is right out of the PUA canon. Totally acceptable game, if a little well-known at this point. I do it all the time.

Many variations of "Have you met Ted?" exist: "Hey, you guys know Ted, right?" Act shocked when they don't, and follow up with, "Are y'all just visiting or something?" Or talk up Ted while he's away at the bar or bathroom, so everybody in the group knows his name when he returns. Make it an inside joke where Ted is the butt of the joke, and get everyone to pretend like they've known Ted for years, so he's confused. This leads to Ted getting laid more often than the instigator of the prank (since everyone is being super friendly to Ted, and that makes Ted look awesome), but it's still fun and funny.

Barney's ridiculous confidence is entirely great game. But his overblown schemes and plots are often try-hard, though if done with enough confidence and a good enough sense of humor, would probably work anyway.

As Shadow_Stabbing mentioned, he is a stereotype or a "pickup artist". Many elements of his persona and tactics are legit, but many others are played up for comedic effect and wouldn't have good results in the real world.

The episodes where he gets one-itis don't entirely accurately portray how bad it is for his game. He often still gets the girl for whom he gets one-itis, which is rare in reality.

Shadow_Stabbing · 2011-04-07T18:35:45+00:00

I went out on Halloween as Barney. It was a great time and excuse to be really obnoxious, but Barney isn't really alpha so much as he is delusional. He demonstrates extreme confidence, which is good, but he is ultimately a comedic stereotype and I would avoid emulating him. Having said that, the "Have you met X" and "Ted Mosbey, Architect" lines can be a lot of fun in the field.

atworkba · 2011-04-07T23:55:53+00:00

impressing a girl by convincing them he is Neil Armstrong and the reason he looks so young is a worm hole has taken him back in time...just classic. Obviously just written for the show and wouldn't work but still sums up the confidence he walks around with.

joshemory · 2011-04-07T20:40:22+00:00

As a comedy character, absolutely hilarious and my favorite on the show (although I love everyone on that show). As for real like seduction advice? It's a show. Some stuff he says is legit, some stuff is complete bogus. You need to use your own judgement (or post it here on seduction for a group consensus) on whether it's good advice or not. Some stuff he does is just silly and will not get you laid... at all.

TofuTofu · 2011-04-08T00:50:19+00:00

I think he's legen.... wait for it...

TheRealDJ · 2011-04-07T20:56:22+00:00

There was one episode where they actually said some legit game tips, like be confident, isolate and subtly put her down(neg). But in general he is basically just a character and is fictional. He will also have horrible approaches making it obvious he just wants to sleep with her in a non alpha way, like joking about his devil halloween costume being "horny", pointing to the horns. I will say I now want to experiment with suiting up and use the "Have you met (name)" line.

barnes80 · 2011-04-20T06:35:54+00:00

He is hilarious, but I really like the direction they have slowly been going with him. I'm not going to throw out any major spoilers in case there are people dedicated to watching them all for the first time, but you just start seeing his soft side more.

As for his seduction techniques, I'm sure they could work, but personally they are usually too forward / lies for my taste.

2011-04-09T13:17:41+00:00

Barney is a ladies man because of his inner game, not his outer game.

Barney is a ladies man but not for the reason Barney thinks, Barney thinks he is a ladies man because he has good looks, a high paying job, and dresses well, and uses insane plays/tactics.

But in reality it's his high level of confidence/delusional confidence which gets him laid. If someone were to have the amount of confidence that Barney has they would be fearless, have suave body language, and be alpha, and never be needy, and that's what women are attracted.

danielvago · 2011-04-07T19:27:27+00:00

The writers clearly know about PUA, which is shown several times and I remember being pointed directly out by his friends a few times.

I bet you could write a long list of things he has done that are accurate PUA material, but of course he is a comedic character in a sit-com (that has a plot that needs to be advanced) so they can't focus too much on only PUA stuff, and he needs to be funny somehow most of the time.

I won't try to list some of that stuff, but I will tell you of a time where that Barney confidence helped me a bit;

Most of my male friends are huge HIMYM fans, and we all love Barney. We have made it a regular thing to "SUIT UP" at parties or events, but the first time we did it was at this party.

There was this girl I've never met before, the host's cousin, that I ended up f-closing at that same house, and it definitely helped my confidence and frame, that I was wearing a suit and "feeling that Barney vibe".

2011-04-07T19:35:37+00:00

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Title	What are people's opinions on Barney from How I Met Your Mother?
Author	lod001
Upvotes	18
Comments	21
Date	April 7, 2011 5:40 PM UTC (15 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/seduction
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/seduction/comments/gkw0x/what_are_peoples_opinions_on_barney_from_how_i/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/seduction/what-are-peoples-opinions-on-barney-from-how-i-met.1317153 https://theredarchive.com/post/1317153

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