The art of the pick-up line is an ancient one, and coming up with a witty and charming icebreaker is a skill to be practiced and honed. Some famous lines are tried and true, but are you ready to risk getting an "I've heard this one before" in response?

The top rizzlers know that being original is really the name of the game with these conversation openers. One recent line that has been popularized lately is a bit confusing, "I love gold but without the 'A.'"

But "gold" doesn't even have the letter "A" in it? Well, it doesn't, but it also does at the same time. Let's explain what this line means and how it's being used in memes online.

What Does 'I Love Gold But Without The "A"' Mean?

Now, it's obvious that the word "gold" doesn't literally have the letter "A" in it. So, what gives? To crack this puzzle, we have to dig a little bit deeper into what "gold" could stand for here.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7465365973021789462

Apart from being a precious metal, gold is also, of course, a chemical element. If we take a look at the periodic table of elements, we can find gold, or "aurum" in Latin, under number 79.

Now let's look what the chemical symbol for the element is …

It's Au! This is the key to our answer. Knowing that "gold" is "Au," let's now remove "A" from "Au," and we will get "u," which is a in informal version of "you."

So what the pickup line really means is "I love you."

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7091424453883694379

Who Came Up With 'I Love Gold But Without The "A"' Line?

While we don't know who exactly first came with the phrase, it's was first spotted online around early December 2020 when it first started appearing in posts on Facebook, X / Twitter and other sites.

The earliest found post we managed to track down was made by a user who goes by daquizrhaymin on the website Brainly, which was posted back on December 1st, 2020.

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For the full history of I Love Gold Without the "A", be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.