We often redefine common words in our languages. A few examples: da bomb, dope, awesome. This is common for any language. We are always looking for other, different, new ways to express ourselves however, sometimes it can leave us udderly confused.

Blue Eyes and I were talking the other night. He thought that his texts were getting a little risqué. I assured him that his were tame to some that I’ve read or even written. **Note to self, don’t admit those things to guys that you like.** He said, “I don’t want to hear that about a girl that I’m dating.” Shocked I said, “We’re dating?” He fumbled for an answer to that question. I asked him how he defined dating. He told me that dating means that you’re hanging out with someone. I said, “Ok. Then according to your definition, we can’t be datING seeing as how we’ve only had one DATE.” I don’t think he liked that response but at that time I had only seen him once in person. I still don’t even know his last name. We do talk nearly every day though. I was confused. Are we dating? What does it mean to be dating? How do you know if your dating?

Being the nerd that I am, I looked up the meaning of dating in the Dictionary and the Urban Dictionary. (The Urban Dictionary is a dictionary where people write in their own meanings and then others vote on how applicable those meanings are to the words.) I edited my findings to these few definitions that may or may not be applicable.

Date
http://dictionary.reference.com/

–noun
1. a social appointment, engagement, or occasion arranged beforehand with another person: to go out on a date on Saturday night.
2. a person with whom one has such a social appointment or engagement: Can I bring a date to the party?
3. an engagement for an entertainer to perform. –verb
4. to go out socially on dates: She dated a lot during high school.
5. to make a date with; go out on dates with: He’s been dating his best friend’s sister.

from http://www.urbandictionary.com/

6. Of a couple, to be in the early stages of a relationship where they go out on dates to find out what each other is like, as a prelude to actually being a fully fledged couple: James and Brenda where dating until James tried to fuck her on the third date.
7. socially acceptable form of prostitution: I spent a $30 for a movie, before the first base. A $50 for lunch, for the second base, and a $70 on a romantic dinner before we cut to the chase.

8. 1. To see someone.
2. To be with someone.
3. To be “together”.
4. The action of doing any sort of various activities to gain acquaintance with someone romantically.
I am dating Mike, he is a lot of fun.

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I don’t know about you but these definitions didn’t help me clarify the meaning of dating but they are the best that I found. I’m still not sure if Blue Eyes and I are dating. We have now had 2 dates. Ok, now we’re at more than one. That’s getting close to meeting #5, go out on dates with. After reading the sentence for #6 we’re dating…now. But when he made the comment that we were dating that wasn’t the case.

So, how does this all work?

You could be dating someone who you’ve never met, i.e. internet dating. But if you were talking to a guy via internet would you tell someone that you were dating or you were internet dating? Must you include the preface?

Let’s say you can date someone via the internet. Therefore, you could be dating someone who you’ve only spoke to on the phone. But again, would you say that you were dating that person or talking to them? There’s another word that has defined a stage in a relationship. Instead of saying dating many people refer to it as talking. What does that mean? I know I use that term myself but when is the switch made from friends, to talking, to dating, to boyfriend… Maybe I’ve just been out of the game for too long. Maybe I’m more afraid of commitment than I thought. Maybe I need to define all of these stages so that I know what is expected of me and when. And when must being platonic start and the pursuing of others end? Yup, I think I’m too old for this. I just don’t get it anymore.

View my dating rules.

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