Say you are interested in someone romantically—potentially even hot for that person.

So, what exactly does playing it cool mean? Well, some may tell you that it means acting as if you're not even interested in the person. This emerged from the belief that things become more desirable when they're seemingly scarce and harder to get. Think limited edition bags like Hermès Birkin ones, rarer stones like emeralds, memberships to exclusive clubs, bluefin tuna, vintage clothing (meaning clothing that you used to throw away), and antimatter. It's why celebrities and other popular folks seem that much more attractive, regardless of their true looks and personalities.

It's also why things that are more readily available may be taken for granted and devalued. For example, you wouldn't go gaga over an 80-roll pack of toilet paper from Costco, would you? Ok, maybe that's not a great example after the pandemic. Nevertheless, comedian Groucho Marx did famously state, "I wouldn't want to belong to a club that would have me as a member."

Harder-to-get doesn't always translate to being more desirable, though. You're probably not angling to get some very rare disease or suffer some rare event like being attacked by a flock of emus. Those........

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