Tooth Seekers

Last year, some British pranksters twitted the news media with bogus reports of a practice called "toothing," where urban singles would purportedly use Bluetooth wireless devices to find casual sex partners. Now, via Smart Mobs, it turns out that in conservative parts of the Middle East, it's no joke:

Among UAE nationals—as the minority of the UAE's residents that are not expatriates are called—it is generally considered impolite for a man to speak to a woman he is neither married nor related to in public.

Traditionally, a young man's first amorous approach to a woman is supposed to be a marriage proposal made by his parents to her parents.[…]

Ahmed Bin Desmal's friends joke that he is a "Bluetooth king". The 20-year-old says he has used the technology to send notes to girls he sees in public places.

"In our country it's very rude to go up and talk to them," he says. "I sent some notes, they liked them—they took my number and they called me. I say nice things—I'm into poems."