Daily Dialogue — February 15, 2012

Harry: You realize of course that we could never be friends.

Sally: Why not?

Harry: What I’m saying is — and this is not a come-on in any way, shape or form — is that men and women can’t be friends because the sex part always gets in the way.

Sally: That’s not true. I have a number of men friends and there is no sex involved.

Harry: No, you don’t.

Sally: Yes, I do.

Harry: No, you don’t.

Sally: Yes, I do.

Harry: You only think you do.

Sally: You say I’m having sex with these men without my knowledge?

Harry: No, what I’m saying is they all want to have sex with you.

Sally: They do not.

Harry: Do, too.

Sally: They do not.

Harry: Do, too.

Sally: How do you know?

Harry: Because no man can be friends with a woman that he finds attractive. He always wants to have sex with her.

Sally: So, you’re saying that a man can be friends with a woman he finds unattractive?

Harry: No, you pretty much want to nail ’em too.

Sally: What if they don’t want to have sex with you?

Harry: Doesn’t matter because the sex thing is already out there so the friendship is ultimately doomed and that is the end of the story.

Sally: Well, I guess we’re not going to be friends then.

Harry: I guess not.

Sally: That’s too bad. You were the only person I knew in New York.

— Harry (Billy Crystal), Sally (Meg Ryan), When Harry Met Sally (1989), written by Nora Ephron

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is meet-ups, suggested by Teddy Pasternak. Today’s suggestion by Courtney Chambers.

Trivia: Before deciding on the title, “Just Friends”, “Playing Melancholy Baby”, “Boy Meets Girl”, “Blue Moon”, “Words of Love”, “It Had To Be You”, “Harry, This Is Sally”, and “How They Met”, were considered by Nora Ephron, Andrew Scheinman, and Rob Reiner.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Okay, enough from me. How about you? Why is this such brilliant dialogue?

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