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The Latest Internet Slang
AROMANTIC
Identity / Celibacy
Pronunciation: ay-ro-MAN-tick
Aromanticism is when someone does not experience the feelings of romantic love that seem to come naturally for so many of us. Perhaps the most significant hurdle for aromantic people is simply feeling left out and misunderstood by a culture for whom dating, love and marriage are not only the norm, but the de facto expectation for all.
"I don't know what's wrong with me. I just can't... fall in love."
"You're not broken — maybe you're just aromantic!"
ASEXUAL
Identity / Sexuality
Pronunciation: ay-SEK-shoo-UL
Aka "Ace", being asexual doesn't specify whom you're attracted to, it specifies you don't experience sexual attraction. This doesn't mean you can't have sex — only that you don't feel the need in the same way. Dating an ace person? Expect to check in regularly with them re: their desires and boundaries — just as you would when dating anybody else.
"Patrick, are you dating Scott? I thought he was asexual, not gay." "Scott's asexual and likes boys! It ain't mutually exclusive."
BENCHING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: BENCH-ing
Benching is when you're not into someone enough to commit to officially dating them, but you don't want them to move on and find someone else either, so you string them along juuuust enough to keep them waiting on the sidelines for you.
"Rachel only ever seems to text me after I've given up on hearing from her. She's definitely benching me."
BIG DICK ENERGY
Dating / Identity
Pronunciation: BIG dick EH-nur-JEE
Big dick energy, or BDE, is the quality of having supreme confidence without needing to be loud or controlling. It is a quiet understanding of who you are and what you bring to the table that doesn’t require backtalk, bragging, or B.S. In short, someone with big dick energy is incredibly hot. The truth is, you can have BDE no matter what your penis size is, as long as you’re comfortable with who you are.
“Damn, look at that guy over there. He’s totally exuding big dick energy.”
BISEXUAL
Identity / Sexuality
Pronunciation: by-SEK-shoo-ULL
Bisexual persons are attracted to two genders. In the nineties, we'd have said "bisexual persons are into men and women", but we know a little more about sex and gender than we used to. A bisexual person can enjoy sex with or fall in love with the same gender as themselves, or a different gender from themselves. Bi people might prefer dating one gender and sleeping with another, but we still call 'em bi.
"Mike, why do you call yourself bisexual? You've only ever dated women."
"That's true, but I just haven't met a guy I wanted to call my boyfriend yet."
BREADCRUMBING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: BREAD-crum-ing
Breadcrumbing is when you send flirty but non-committal messages to a person when you're not really interested in dating them but don't have the guts to break things off with them completely. The breadcrumbee is strung along for the sake of sparing the breadcrumber a confrontation.
"Renée replies to every second or third message I send her but never wants to meet IRL. I think she's breadcrumbing me."
CASUAL RELATIONSHIP
Dating / Type
Pronunciation: KAZH-oo-ull ruh-LAY-shun-ship
Somewhere in between fuckbuddies and going steady is the casual relationship, in which two people typically hang out regularly and have sex but don't partake in the hallmarks of a serious relationship, like exclusivity, ongoing commitment and spending time with each other's friends and family.
"I have a friends with benefits type thing going on with Emily, you know? It's a casual relationship."
CATFISHING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: KAT-fish-ing
Catfishing is when someone pretends to be a different person while messaging someone else. These setups tend to end badly. But until then, move your conversation with your crush to the phone/IRL/video chat of some sort as soon as you can muster. If they're resistant, they might be catfishing you.
"She always has a different excuse not to meet up with me." "Sounds you're being catfished..."
CISGENDER
Identity / Sexuality
Pronunciation: siss-JENN-der
Aka "Cis", cisgender is a term for people who aren't transgender, or whose assigned gender lines up with their actual gender. Variations in sex and sexuality are perfectly normal and occur frequently in nature. While cisgender persons may outnumber transgender persons, it isn't a default setting; it's one of many.
"So what's the opposite of trans, then? Normal?"
"Well, no, it's not that simple. But the term you're looking for is 'cis'."
CUFFING SEASON
Dating / Type
Pronunciation: KUFF-ing SEE-zun
Cuffing season is an African American Vernacular English (AAVE) term for the period between early fall and late winter when everyone starts to shack up with the nearest half-decent single person to ward off loneliness and cold during the cooler months. Cuffing season typically implied a short term, and it ends as soon as the leaves start turning green again.
"Starbucks just brought back the pumpkin spice latte, it must be cuffing season!"
CURVE
Dating / Trend
Pronunciation: KURV
Getting curved is being rejected, shot down, turned aside, said no to, dissed and dismissed. Yes, it sucks. When you get curved you need to take a moment to properly absorb all of the "no" that just hit you.
"I tried to ask out this babe at the bar last night and she curved me harder than I've ever been curved in my life."
CUSHIONING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: KUSH-on-ing
Cushioning is the process of staying in contact with one or more romantic prospects as a backup in case things don't go smoothly with your main partner. The "cushions" are usually kept on the periphery, eg. texting rather than full blown cheating.
"I do really like Priya, but I'm still texting Sian just in case. Yeah, I guess I'm cushioning."
DADDY
Dating / Identity
Pronunciation: DAH-dee
Over the past few years, daddy culture has risen to become pretty mainstream, with young people using the word “daddy” in either a sexual or sex-adjacent context. You might call your partner daddy in bed, or you might acknowledge a hot older man’s “daddy vibes” because of his muscles, body hair, facial hair, and personal wealth.
“She keeps on texting me, ‘choke me daddy.’ What the hell does that mean?”
DEMISEXUAL
Identity / Sexuality
Pronunciation: DEH-mee-SEK-shoo-ULL
A demisexual is a person whose sex drive is tied not to an immediate visual or physical attraction but to people's personalities once they've gotten to know them. As a result, demisexuals are poor candidates for one-night stands and casual relationships, But they're no more or less capable of deep, loving relationships as the rest of us.
"At first I thought I was asexual, but then I realized I can have sexual desire for people... just not until I really know them!"
"Sounds like you might be demisexual."
DM SLIDE
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: DEE-em slide
A DM slide is when you direct message your crush using the private messaging functions available on all of the major social media networks, eg. Twitter and Instagram. You usually need to be mutuals first — ie. follow each other — to avoid your message ending up in an "other" folder, and DM sliding tends to occur after some public interaction, eg. liking each other's pics or @ replying.
"Brandy just posted a selfie and she's looking hot AF! I'm about to slide in the DMs."
DTR CONVERSATION
Dating / Trend
Pronunciation: dee-tee-ARE con-ver-SAY-shun
A DTR conversation (standing for "define the relationship") is the moment you discuss what you are. Are you a for-real couple, or just friends with benefits, or a situationship? Timing is huge, here. Have your DTR too early and you risk scaring the other person away; too late and you might discover they've been casually dating around the whole time, assuming it wasn't serious.
"It's been six months and I just don't know what we are yet?"
"Well have you had a DTR convo with him?
EGGPLANT EMOJI 🍆
Dating / Trend
Pronunciation: EGG-plant ee-MO-ji
The eggplant emoji is doubtless one of the most suggestive emojis, signifying a penis. When was the last time you really needed to use the eggplant emoji to signify an actual eggplant?
"Wow, did you see that bulge? Man, I'd love to see his eggplant emoji, if you know what I mean."
EMERGENCY CALL
Dating / Trend
Pronunciation: eh-MUR-jun-see KOL
An emergency call is a fakeout that allows you to politely get out of a particularly bad date. If you're genuinely afraid of insulting the stranger you're sitting across from, a fake emergency call from a friend saying "Your brother's in the hospital" or "Your cat just died" can be a real lifesaver.
"Oh, God, thanks for agreeing to be my emergency call last night. What a nightmare date that was."
FIREDOORING
Dating / Trend
Pronunciation: FIE-er DOH-ring
This is the dating version of the one-way fire door — on rare occasions, someone will come out of their shell to contact you, but won't respond if you attempt to get in touch. It's a setup that only works in deeply unequal situations — if you're getting firedoored, you're constantly feeling frustrated and only occasionally satisfied.
"She never responds to my messages, but texts me 'u up' at 1 a.m.? What's the deal?"
"Sounds like you're getting firedoored, bud."
FRECKLING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: FRECK-uh-ling
If someone only seems interested in you during the warmer months, it might be a case of freckling. Maybe they got out of a relationship of sorts during the spring and now that it’s summertime, you’re on their hookup roster. Unfortunately, they’re not looking for anything serious or permanent — just like freckles, they’ll disappear come fall.
"It’s been three weeks since school started and I haven’t heard anything … I think she was just freckling me."
FRIENDS WITH BENEFIT
Identity / Dating
Pronunciation: FRENDS with BEN-eh-fits
Friends with benefits (aka FWB) is the relatively classy way of saying you know someone and care about them and are regularly engaging in sexual acts with them, but not within the context of a relationship. It implies a certain looseness of arrangement.
"So what are we? Is this a relationship? Or are we just friends?"
"I think we're friends... with benefits."
FUCKBUDDIES
Identity / Dating
Pronunciation: FUK-buh-deez
Isn't that... basically friends with benefits? Yes, arguably, they're pretty similar. At the same time, though, the use of the F-word in one of the terms denotes a very different sexual ethos.
"I met this great girl. We've been seeing each other a lot... just for sex, though, no dates. We're f*ckbuddies."
GAY
Identity / Sexuality
Pronunciation: GAY
This term is one of the more flexible on the list, but, generally speaking, someone who identifies as gay is exclusively attracted to, or exclusively dates, or exclusively has sex with, people who are the same gender as themselves — but it's a term that's been reclaimed by many across the spectrum of sexuality — so if you see a queer woman proclaim she's gay despite dating men too, it's not necessarily the contradiction you think it is.
"Carol, would you like to grab coffee with me this weekend?"
"Sure, Jim, but as friends. You do know I'm gay, right?"
GENDERFLUID
Identity / Gender
Pronunciation: JEN-der-FLOO-id
Can be applied to people who feel outside the gender binary, or it can be applied to persons who feel that their gender isn't fixed, but variable — changing from day to day. Unlike nonbinary persons, a genderfluid person might identify as male and female, on different days, whereas a nonbinary person will usually identify as neither male nor female.
"Hey, could you ask Scout if I could have her number? I need to ask her about this chem assignment."
"Hey, buddy, I'll definitely ask for you, but you should know that Scout's not a 'she'— they're genderfluid."
GHOSTING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: GO-sting
Ghosting is when you disappear out of someone's life because you're no longer interested in them, instead of telling them directly. It's more abrupt than breadcrumbing: the ghoster will suddenly stop replying to texts and won't answer calls, and the ghostee is usually left hurt and confused.
"I'm not really feeling Melissa anymore, but she's really into me. I think I'm just gonna ghost her."
HALF-NIGHT STAND
Dating / Type
Pronunciation: HAFF nite STAND
The traditional one-night stand involves meeting a sexually-attractive stranger and taking them home for a night of unattached sex: they leave in the morning and you don't see them again. Well, the half-night stand cuts out the staying over part: the late night guest leaves straight after the sex is over.
"Joe was lazy in bed and wouldn't give me head, so I got out of there as soon as he fell asleep. I guess I've had a half-night stand now!"
HAUNTING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: HAWN-ting
Haunting is when you notice signs that your ex is lurking your social media feeds, eg. they randomly like old Instagram pics or watch your daily stories. Often the notifications are a deliberate attempt to remind you that they exist.
"Guess who watched my Instagram story today, of all people!? John! He's haunting me, and it's really creepy."
INCEL
Identity / Celibacy
Pronunciation: IN-sell
Incel, short for "involuntary celibates", is an online subculture of men who define themselves as unable to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one. Because of this, many self-proclaimed incels preach their hatred of women for not sleeping with them.
"Ugh, I haven't had sex in almost three years. I'm such an incel."
KITTENFISHING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: KIT-in-FISH-ing
Kittenfishing is when you portray yourself in an unrealistically positive light in your online dating profiles. We all do this to some extent, but kittenfishing crosses the border into dishonest territory: think photoshopped or very outdated profile pics, or listing "lawyer" as your occupation when you're really a first year law student.
"Remember that girl I was messaging on Tinder? Well, we met IRL, and she was definitely kittenfishing."
LEFT ON READ
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: LEFT awn RED or LEFT awn REED
You send a text to your crush and wait for their reply, giddy with excitement. Rather than a reply, you simply get a read receipt. “Read at 2:39 p.m.” Then … nothing. If you’re watching the convo like a hawk, you might get the indignity of seeing them start to type a reply and then give up.
"Is he still leaving you on read? You need to get over him ASAP."
LOCKERING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: LAH-ker-ing
If you’ve ever experienced someone ditching you by claiming they’re studying when in fact they’re just not interested, what you felt was lockering. For high-school sweethearts starting college at separate schools, this could be a prelude to a Thanksgiving breakup, better known as a turkey dump.
"How come you’re always studying and you never have time to catch up? Are you lockering me?"
LGBTQ
Identity / Sexuality
Pronunciation: ELL-jee-bee-tee-CUE
LGBTQ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (or questioning), and its an acronym that's used to include the whole of a bunch of different communities of people whose sexualities or gender identities place them outside of the mainstream both historically and today. It's a useful term when you're trying to refer to several, often intersecting groups of people at once.
"I love all my LGBTQ friends!"
LOVE BOMBING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: LUV BOM-ing
Love bombing is when a new partner shows extreme amounts of affection early on and expends serious energy in a deliberate attempt to woo you. However, once you've committed to a relationship with them, the love bomber will withdraw all that affection and let their true, ugly colors shine through, leaving you stuck in a nightmare relationship. This one's really not cute: love bombing is manipulative and abusive.
"Graeme was so sweet at first, but now he's manipulative and jealous all the time. I guess he love bombed me."
MICROCHEATING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: MY-cro-CHEA-ting
Microcheating is a form of infidelity that stops short of the full-blown, overt cheating that occurs when a person sleeps with someone else behind their partner's back, but is low-level, cumulative dishonesty and infidelity that is intolerable in a committed relationship. Think heavy flirting, tonnes of secrecy, furtive kissy-face emojis and emotional affairs.
"I've never caught Imogen sleeping with anyone else, but she's constantly flirting with other guys and texts everyone except me. In my opinion, she's microcheating."
NETFLIX AND CHILL
Dating / Trend
Pronunciation: NET-flicks and CHILL
In its original inception, "Netflix and chill" was a euphemism for a stay-at-home date that led to sex pretty quickly. The idea being: You invite your crush over under the premise of "just watching some Netflix and chilling" and then either abandon the movie pretty early or perhaps never even get to it, as hooking up becomes the main attraction.
"How'd it go?"
"Well, I invited him over for a little Netflix and chill... you can guess what happened next."
NON-BINARY
Identity / Gender
Pronunciation: non-BYE-nuh-ree
A non-binary person may identify as neither male or female, or both male and female, or as a traditional gender to their culture (such as two-spirited or third gender). It's polite to use 'they' as a default pronoun until instructed otherwise if you're unsure about someone's gender. Never assume!
"I thought Padraic was trans? Why doesn't Padraic want to be referred to as 'she'?"
"Padraic is trans, but they're nonbinary, not femme!"
OPEN RELATIONSHIP
Dating / Type
Pronunciation: OH-pin ruh-LAY-shun-ship
An open relationship is a committed, romantic relationship that contains an arrangement where both parties can sleep with other people. It's not cheating, because both parties are honest with each other and have the same freedom to engage in sex with other people. Open relationships often contain specific rules and boundaries, just like monogamous relationships, but "no sex with anyone else, ever!" isn't one of them.
"I love Max, but I think we'd both benefit from a bit more sexual freedom. I'm thinking of asking him for an open relationship."
ORBITING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: OR-bih-ting
Unlike with ghosting, there’s no text, call or other form of communication that initiates anything. In this case, you'll see a notification, get your hopes up, but find they never actually reach out. Just rememeber: if someone really wants to date you, they’d probably make more of an effort than tapping on a “like” button.
"Hmm... watches my Instagram story, likes my photos, reads my DMs, but doesn't respond. Yep, I'm being orbited."
PANSEXUAL
Identity / Sexuality
Pronunciation: pan-SEK-shoo-ull
Someonewho m ay be attracted to women, men, and nonbinary people. Or maybe they feel like their sexuality is too fluid for a simpler label like "bisexual". Some people have adopted pansexual because it doesn't reinforce the gender binary through its name. Pansexual also usually refers to being attracted to a person for who they are before their gender.
"So are you still bisexual?"
"Well, ever since my partner transitioned I feel like the word 'pansexual' suits me better, you know?"
PHUBBING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: FUH-bing
Ever been hanging out with a date or significant other only to notice they’re paying too much attention to their phone? That’s a case of phubbing. It’s a pretty ugly word, but honestly, it’s a pretty ugly act. With people using technology to stay in constant connection to their friends and followers, it can be easy to forget about the person right in front of you.
"Man, every time me and Mark hang out, he’s always on Instagram when I’m talking to him. I feel so phubbed."
PIE HUNTING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: PIE HUNT-ing
As you can probably deduce, pie hunting is an unsavory dating phenomenon in which a person (the "hunter") deliberately dates "pies", or heartbroken, vulnerable people with messy dating histories, who are perceived to be easier and lower-maintenance.
"Dave only ever dates divorcees. He's a real pie-hunter."
POLYAMOROUS
Identity / Dating
Pronunciation: paw-lee-AM-oh-riss
Polyamory is consensually dating (and loving) multiple people at once. In its various forms, polyamory has been a part of human culture for millennia, particularly in the form of polygamous marriages, but it's enjoying a resurgence in modern dating culture as millennials (children of divorce faced with untold levels of choice) break with monogamous tradition and begin exploring their options.
"To be honest, Camille and I are thinking of experimenting with being polyamorous."
QUEER
Identity / Sexuality
Pronunciation: KWEER
Basically, 'not straight', in any flavour you like, and usually with a slightly more radical edge. The word has been reclaimed by those communities as a positive term. 'Queer' is often treated as the 'umbrella' term under which gay men, pansexual non-binary persons, and people experimenting with their sexuality can come together under.
"Not gay as in happy, but queer as in 'screw off.'"
REDPILL
Identity / Celibacy
Pronunciation: RED-pill
If you decide, once and for all, that women are bad and society is set up in such a way to privilege them over men at every turn, you're completely off your rocker — but you've also had a redpill moment. You'll probably want to head to Reddit and swap stories with other incels and MGTOWs about how women are ruining your lives.
"Yeah, my brother totally got redpilled in his first year at college. Yikes."
ROACHING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: ROW-ching
Roaching is a new dating trend where people hide the fact that they're dating around from a new partner and, when confronted, claim to have simply been under the assumption that there was no implication of monogamy to begin with. Roaching usually results in blame shifting and is totally messed up.
"So it turned out he'd been seeing like, six other girls the whole time!"
"Damn, Tina. You got roached."
SAPIOSEXUAL
Identity / Dating
Pronunciation: SAY-pee-oh-SEK-shoo-ull
A word describing someone who's turned on by a person's mind rather than physical appearance, it's a neat marriage of style and substance, as only huge nerds would dare self-identify as sapiosexuals. Not to be confused with any of the other sexualities, this isn't a clinical definition of an innate quality, merely a descriptor meant to state a preference.
"What really entices me about a woman... is her mind. Yes, you could call me a sapiosexual."
SEVERAL-NIGHT STAND
Sex / Trend
Pronunciation: SEV-rull NITE STAND
If the one-night stand was a product of the 20th century's loosening sexual mores, the several-night stand is a distinctly 21st-century invention. For people who care about someone else enough to sleep with them multiple times but not enough to take it past that.
"Well, we kept on texting each other 'u up' every evening and it basically turned into a several-night stand."
SEX INTERVIEW
Sex / Trend
Pronunciation: SECKS INN-tur-vyou
Have you ever had sex with someone before going on a real date with them? Then you've engaged in a sex interview. Sex researchers (yes, that's a real job) coined the term in 2015 to describe the practice, which is increasingly popular among millennials who are less shy about sex and more interested in weeding out incompatible lovers than so-so conversationalists.
"So what's the deal with you and Brandon? Is that happening?"
"Nah. He's still messaging me, but to be honest, he failed his sex interview."
SITUATIONSHIP
Dating / Type
Pronunciation: SIT-chew-AY-shun-ship
In use on Black Twitter since at least 2014, a "situationship" is Facebook's "It's Complicated" relationship status come to life. Similar to a casual relationship, a situationship is a sexual relationship that stops short of constituting a serious relationship, but it's not nothing either.
"So what's the deal with you and Molly now? Are you together?"
"I don't know, man. It's a situationship."
SLOW FADE
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: SLOW fade
The slow fade is the process of ending a lackluster relationship or fling by gradually reducing contact and response times. Like a smoother version of breadcrumbing, the person doing the fading will taper off contact, like gradually turning down the volume on a song and starting a new one without anyone noticing.
"I want to end things with Lee, but I can't stand the idea of hurting him. I think I'm gonna do the slow fade."
SNACK
Identity / Dating
Pronunciation: SNAK
A snack is a babe, a honey, a stunner, a smokeshow, a jaw-dropping vision. A snack inspires DM slides and thirsty texts. Of course, some snacks are SO attractive, you have to call them a full meal. Because let's be real, Beyoncé is more than a handful of tortilla chips.
"God damn, did you see that babe who just walked by?"
"Yeah, man, that girl was a snack!"
STASHING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: STA-shing
"Stashing" is when a person won't introduce the person they're seeing to anyone in their lives, and doesn't mention their existence on social media. The "stashed" partner is kept hidden from view and stashing is a classic move of the commitment-averse.
"Maria won't introduce me to any of her friends or family. I think I'm being stashed."
STEALTHING
Sex / Trend
Pronunciation: STELL-thing
A form of sexual assault when guys surreptitiously remove a condom mid-sexual act, enabling them to finish the deed unprotected.
"When we started, he was wearing a condom, but halfway through I realized he wasn't!"
"Oh my God, he stealthed you?"
STRAIGHT
Identity / Sexuality
Pronunciation: STRATE
Straight persons are attracted to, date, or have sex with only members of the 'opposite' gender. Some people might have crushes on the same gender as themselves, but never follow through, and still identify as straight.
"I'm flattered you'd think to ask me out, Zander, but I'm straight."
SUBMARINING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: sub-muh-REE-ning
Did you just get haunted, or zombied, but it felt even worse than usual? Maybe you were submarined! Submarining is when your old flame pops back up in your life after a lengthy period of silence, but rather than copping to the disappearance, simply acts as if dipping without warning is normal behaviour.
"So after disappearing for two months, she just pops right back up!"
"Damn... she submarined you!"
SUMMER FLING
Dating / Type
Pronunciation: SUM-mer FLING
The counterpart to cuffing season, summer flings are casual relationships that end once the leaves start to turn brown again. Summer flings often start on vacations and end when the other person has to go home, and tend to be of the "short and sweet" variety.
"I had such a good time with Nicole in Cabo but it was definitely just a summer fling."
SWINGER
Identity / Dating
Pronunciation: SWING-ur
A term for consensually sleeping with someone outside of your marriage while your partner does the same, swinging has lost some cultural currency in recent years as millennials opt for the "poly" lifestyle instead. Still, swinging is alive and well for Gen Xers taking advantage of increasingly liberal sexual morels.
"Yeah, this married couple asked us if we wanted to come to a swingers party with them."
SWIPING
Dating / Trend
Pronunciation: SWHY-ping
Swiping is the physical interaction you have with your phone when deciding whether you're attracted to someone's profile picture or not. From Tinder it spread to Bumble and a few thousand copycat apps. It'll be replaced eventually, but until then, swiping is how we as a culture perform love — or at least our aspirations thereto.
"No plans tonight... I'm just going to stay home, re-download Tinder and swipe myself silly."
TEXTLATIONSHIP
Dating / Trend
Pronunciation: text-LAY-shun-ship
A textlationship is a flirtatious connection between two people that works on paper but never seems to manifest itself in practice. For whatever reason, the chemistry between two people is just better over texts. It could mean one of the two is playing the other just for the attention, rather than both parties being shy or awkward.
"She’s always texting me but never wants to actually go on a date or hook up. Honestly, we might just be in a textlationship."
THIRST TRAP
Dating / Trend
Pronunciation: THURST trap
Intentionally sexually provocative pictures posted on social media in order to ensnare hapless scrollers-by. Often, such pictures will draw way more likes than their typical posts, as thirsty people rush to offer their likes as sacrifices to an uncaring god. These can be a great ego boost for the thirst trapper.
"Damn, did you see Sheila's selfie last night? That outfit was wild!"
"Yep, that was a real thirst trap."
THRONING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: thr-OWN-ing
Throning is essentially another form of gold digging that extends beyond wealth. It involves someone using another person for their power and social status, and it's most common when one person in the relationship has significantly less money or influence than their counterpart.
"Every time we cross that rope, we get inside and suddenly it's like I'm not even there. I feel like I'm just being throned."
TINDSTAGRAMMING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: TIND-stuh-gram-ming
Tindstagramming is the process of contacting someone through Instagram's direct messaging feature after you have seen them on Tinder but not become a match. It's an annoying and generally poorly-received way of bypassing a left-swipe.
"I have 10 new messages in my Other folder on Instagram! These Tindstagrammers won't leave me alone."
TRANSGENDER
Identity / Gender
Pronunciation: trans-JEN-der
At birth, pretty much all of us are assigned a gender, whether by our doctor, our parents, or society. Transgender or trans persons are those whose actual gender is different from the one they were assigned. Some trans people undergo surgery or take hormones to have their sex characteristics better match their gender, but not everyone does! Transgender, or trans, like queer is often an umbrella for those with diverse genders.
"So I hear Paul's cousin is transgendered now."
"Actually, she's just transgender — no 'ed' necessary!"
TURKEY DUMP
Dating / Type
Pronunciation: TUR-key DUMP
Another seasonal relationship event, turkey dumping is common among college students, many of whom are in long distance relationships with people they knew in high school or from their home towns. The turkey dump happens after one person in the relationship returns back to college after Thanksgiving and realizes it's too difficult to keep things going.
"I had such a good time with Jake while he was home for Thanksgiving, but he broke up with me as soon as he got back to campus. I got turkey dumped."
UNCUFFING SEASON
Dating / Trend
Pronunciation: un-CUFF-ing SEE-sun
The springtime can be considered “uncuffing season” because it’s the time for people to break things off with a semi-serious cuff and venture out into a sexy and flirtatious summer.
"Man, how many couples have broken up in the past few weeks? Is it uncuffing season already?"
VULTURING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: vul-CHUR-ing
Vultures can sense when a relationship is on its last leg. Their moves are selfish, and typically, they're going to do whatever they deem necessary to get what they want: you. Sure, having a bit of hope that your longtime crush will split from their wretched partner and fall for you might not be considered vulturing per se, but taking advantage of someone in an incredibly weak and vulnerable state? That's a whole other story.
"Stop vulturing, it's just a rough patch. They'll get through it!"
WATER DROPLETS EMOJI 💦
Dating / Trend
Pronunciation: WAH-turr DROP-lits ee-MO-ji
After the eggplant emoji, the water droplets emoji might be the horniest one out there. One notable benefit is that it’s unisex. Depending on who you are and who you’re messaging, the droplets could be semen, female lubrication/ejaculate, or a bit of the comparatively tame (and universal) sex sweat. Regardless, throwing a couple of these into a naughty text message is a good way to visually convey the activities to come … if you will.
“Can’t wait for later tonight. I’m gonna make you water droplets emoji all over the place.”
ZOMBIEING
Dating / Move
Pronunciation: zom-BEE-ing
This is ghosting to the next level. After losing touch with someone who you'd been talking or seeing, zombieing is when they make a triumphant return as if nothing ever happened. Your zombie may get in touch with you via DM, text or by seeking you out in person. Hearing from someone who totally dipped out on you can bring up some conflicting feelings, but if you’re looking for a positive, the situation does have the potential to offer some clarity or closure.
“3 months of radio silence after we texted every single day. I can't believe he's zombieing me... Should I answer?”
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