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I'm currently reading a hilarious manga called _Clockwork Planet_.

When I'm reading a given page, some guys _tsukkomu_ s (comments) on that page
with "I used to be an engineer once." Basically, this pic depicts a scene that
the main male character expresses his love to the main female character and
gets accepted.

> [![Love expressing
> scene](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yNRICl.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/yNRICl.jpg)

This scene is pretty good, but I still don't understand why some guys say "I
used to be an engineer." I've googled it but got no appropriate answer.
Therefore, I'm very confused. Would you like to give me an explanation for
this weird sentence?


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2015-08-02T14:53:06.263
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2023-04-29T07:53:42.367
2023-04-29T07:53:38.620
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question
clockwork-planet
What does "I used to be an engineer once" mean?


Ah, as an engineer myself, I think I know where they're coming from, since my
friends have made this joke to me before. If I'm right, this isn't an in-
series joke, or even one related to anime & manga at all:

There's a running joke that (male) engineers are hopeless at romance and can't
pick up women, likely originating from the fact that engineering is a
profession that has a very skewed ratio of male to female participants. While
the number of female engineers is increasing over time, the difference in
numbers is still comfortably large enough for the joke to be made.

I expect the joke they're making is that since he is no longer an engineer ("I
used to be an engineer"), a girl can finally accept his feelings.

Naturally, this has some traction on the internet - here are some examples
I've found over my time:

[![Engineering2](https://i.stack.imgur.com/K2Le7.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/K2Le7.jpg)

[![Engineering3](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oNc7f.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/oNc7f.jpg)


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2015-08-02T17:01:47.837
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2023-04-29T07:53:42.367
2023-04-29T07:53:42.367
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