Somewhere in my Journalism 101 notes is a reference to the fact that people who write columns should avoid areas they know nothing about.

If I made a list of things I know nothing about, fishing would be second last and you might be preparing to read here about the efficacy of the Mepp's Black Fury, a lure which is black - mostly - and has a sharp hook in it.

But despite the best advice of my journalism professor, this column is about something further down the list, dating.

This is the time in life when my experience and wisdom would be best passed on to my three sons, all of the age where a young lady is perfectly capable of making them walk straight into a telephone pole.

But dating, as it might be called today, bears no resemblance to the genteel sport I knew nothing about in high school.

Then, it was the talk of the school if you had a girl on your arm. Today, she's on your arm and tattooed onto your shoulder blade - or worse.

In those tentative high school years when I could arrange for friends to determine the temperature of an interest there was no hint of the future in online chatting, text messaging and e-mail.

Today, with this clear technological advantage and a vocabulary of cryptic acronyms and symbols one can quickly get the lay of the land and determine whether asking a girl out will lead to LOL.

(Lots of laughs or laugh out loud for those of you over 30 years of age.)

Back in my day, I took the laugh right in the face and retreated to the chess club meeting as quickly as possible.

The university years were supposed to be the years of freedom and a never-ending inventory of choice would-be girlfriends. What they didn't tell us was that we'd be up against the hometown boyfriends who had jobs and therefore, money and cars.

There was an unwritten rule in the dorm hall that a closed transom above the door was out of bounds. Let me put this delicately for my ego and say that the hinges at 206 weren't suffering from the wear and tear.

As age creeps up on you - it used to be your 20s but now it's mostly in your 30s - there is intense interest in when you will settle on a mate for life and possibly create a family. You readers may recall that this interest comes largely from your friends, your parents, your aunts and uncles - everyone except you.

In spite of the level of desperation to find a suitable partner for life, I have to admit that a sort of feigned indifference crept in and protected me from the scrutiny. I have to say I enjoyed the company of young ladies best when I was "past marrying age".

However, the devil-may-care attitude was costly. I continued to insist on discussing my interest in having 14 children early in these courtships. I didn't get a lot of second dates, but the first ones were very nice. The 14 children are apparently not what women are talking about when they say they are looking for commitment.

I was almost 30 but I got a second date, a third and a few others. Four-14ths of a family and 18 years later, I can honestly say that I still don't know how it happened.

To my three sons I give this advice, pick the eddy on the shady side of the river and drop your line just slightly upstream so that you're reeling in slightly across the current.

That's the only advice you need from this expert.