Hey you, are you trying to figure out how to pluck up the courage to tell that guy you’re feeling all the feelings for that you love him? Head to Wales. Apparently they’re really into saying that sort of thing over there. In fact, they’re the fastest out of the gate when it comes to telling their partner that they love them.
According to one of those studies that dating websites like to do every now and again, Welsh people take an average of 62 days to tell their partner they love them; 50 days fewer than the national average (which is 112 if, like us, you found GCSE maths harder than you’d care to admit). Miserable Londoners, though, take upwards of 175 days. That’s nearly six months. Scots aren’t far behind either, taking an average of 154 days.
So what is it about Welsh guys and gals that mean they’re able to say ‘I love you’ quickest? (Don't worry Midlanders and Northerners, you guys are pretty quick off the mark too).
According to a psychologist who came on special offer with the study, it might be something to do with the fact that people from west of Shropshire are more comfortable with expressing their feelings thanks to the fact they’re more likely to be from close-knit communities.
Londoners on the other hand, despite being surrounded by 10 million people, know none of their neighbours and are socially backwards because they don’t talk to anyone that isn’t their mate and silently hate everyone that sits next to them on the tube.
Other things the study said are that East Anglians are the most frequent at expressing their love (they say it about 21 times a week), men are more likely to say it first and – wait for it, because this is the only bit of the survey that actually makes sense – the most common place to do all the love declaring is at the pub. Which makes us think there’s probably another study to be done on how many people were drunk the first time they said ‘I love you’ to a partner. Not that we’re trying to put a dampener on romance, you understand.
Or, you could have a tragic tale like mine and find yourself at the Keane album launch party hammered on free wine while Bonnie Tyler blasted from the speakers and think that this was a perfectly adequate time to drunkenly whisper ‘I love you’ for the first time. In response, I got a hug.
We went home and I cried while eating my drunk chicken nuggets about how he didn’t love me back while he laughed at me and told me I was an idiot and of course he loved me. I smiled and dribbled BBQ sauce down the front of my top.
It’s not exactly a story to tell the grandkids, but hey, six years on, it’s still pretty funny.
Follow Jess on Twitter @jess_commons
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.