With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, we wanted to shed some light on some of the more popular online dating lingo that we and other digital literacy and internet safety advocates have seen being used by both teens and adults. The digital world and social media are constantly evolving and creating their own language, and it’s important that parents and caregivers stay up-to-date so that we can effectively communicate with our kids. It’s important to note that the language and meanings of these terms may vary across regions and countries.
- Bae: boyfriend or girlfriend
- Body count: The number of people someone has slept with
- Benching: Keeping someone waiting on the sidelines without committing to officially dating them.
- Breadcrumbing: Sending flirty but non-committal messages to keep someone interested without actually dating them.
- Cushioning: Maintaining contact with multiple romantic prospects as a backup plan
- Curving: Rejecting someone’s romantic interest in them, or responding to them with inconsistent messages and long delays.
- DTR Conversation: A discussion to “determine the status” of a relationship
- Flexting: Digital flirting or boasting.
- Firedooring: Receiving occasional attention from someone who does not reciprocate communication.
- Friendzoned: Being regarded as only a friend, despite unreciprocated romantic or sexual interest.
- Ghosting: Disappearing from someone’s life without explanation
- Grafting: The effort put into showing interest in someone.
- Haunting: Observing an ex’s activity on social media after ending a relationship.
- Ick factor: The “ick factor” is like a red flag, indicating a quality or trait of someone that you dislike enough to make them undateable
- ILY: I Love You
- Lockering: Claiming to focus on studies to end a relationship.
- Non-date date: You are on a date having flirts, eye contact, etc but it feels that this is not the actual date
- Orbiting: Stalking someone online after ghosting them.
- Pocketing: Keeping a dating relationship separate from the rest of one’s life, like not introducing them to friends or mentioning the relationship on social media.
- Rizz: refers to a person who has confidence specific to pursuing a romantic relationship
- Roaching: Hiding the fact of seeing others, then scampering away when confronted.
- Slow Fade: Gradually reducing contact and response times to end a relationship.
- Simp: Somebody who tries very hard and does a lot for their crush.
- Situationship: not officially dating but have feelings for each other
- Smash: have casual sex
- Sneaky Link: Hookup or a secret romantic relationship
- Stashing: Hiding a relationship from friends and social media.
- Submarining: A former flame reappears after a lengthy period of silence and acting as if nothing is wrong.
- Thirsty: Desperate for something, usually referring to a desire for sex.
- Thirst Trap: Posting sexually provocative pictures on social media for attention.
The White Hatter
