38 words for what dating does now.
Placed by the move each one names. North happens in the open; south happens behind the scenes. West is getting closer; east is pulling away.
I · 13 words
Defining it (or not)
The stages, the flags and the long undefined middle — everything short of a label.
II · 8 words
Leaving, and coming back
Every way of disappearing, and the ways people reappear afterwards.
III · 10 words
Hiding & pretending
Profiles that flatter, partners kept out of sight, and launches soft and hard.
IV · 7 words
Keeping options open
Attention rationed to keep someone waiting, without committing to them.
All thirty-eight, by group
Defining it (or not)13
Leaving, and coming back8
Hiding & pretending10
Keeping options open7
Where each story begins
From 1700 to 2024 — mostly the last.
The earliest date on each term’s own page, for all 38. The oldest are not dating terms at all: green flag’s story starts with the red flag, a warning signal since the 1700s, and breadcrumbing’s with an 1812 fairy tale. Dating slang mostly recycles words and gives them a new job.
- Before 1900Green Flag, Breadcrumbing
- 1990sThe Ick, DTR (Define The Relationship)
- 2000sGhosting, Textationship, Cuffing Season, Situationship, Curving
- 2010sCatfishing, Cushioning, Firedooring, Monkey Branching, Pocketing, Roaching, Slow Fade, Talking Stage, Zombieing, Benching, Breezing, Kittenfishing, Stashing, Submarining, Freckling, Mosting, Orbiting, Sneaky Link, Cookie Jarring, Dogfishing, Paperclipping, Snowmanning, White Clawing
- 2020sSoft Launching, Wokefishing, Beige Flag, Groundhogging, Hard Launching, Throning