Poll: British women prefer good texters

LONDON, July 11 (UPI) -- A survey suggests British women often judge the character of prospective mates based on their text messaging abilities.

The "Text Appeal" poll of 2,000 adults by inquiry service 118118, found 76 percent of female respondents said they judge potential dates by analyzing their texting style, The Scotsman reported Friday.

Forty-one percent of women polled said they are turned off by poor spelling and grammar -- including popular text shorthand such as using the letter "c" in place of "see" -- and 67 percent said they would be more likely to be impressed by a man who sends longer texts that include wit, humor and flirtatious undertones.

However, the survey said poor spellers should beware when considering a phone call as a substitute for texting, as 88 percent of women polled said they prefer to converse by text and 37 percent said men seem more "desperate" over the phone than in text messages.