What time is it? Time for a giant clock!Yep, fi…
April 28th, 2006 | by Jeremy |What time is it? Time for a giant clock!
Yep, finally bought the clock from Target I’ve had my eye on. I think it looks pretty darn good.
In other news, I’ve been trying to figure out the difference between dating someone, seeing someone and being boyfriend/girlfriend or “going steady”, which no one says anymore. Opinions vary, but here’s what I can gather:
Dating. This is the first step. If you’ve gone out on a date with someone and there’s the possibility another date will occur, you’re dating. If you’re a guy, you’re probably paying for it. You’re both trying to impress the other person by being a lot cooler (in the case of guys) and less psycho (in the case of girls) than you really are. Nothing exclusive, you can see other people, blah, blah, blah.
Seeing each other. I’m told this is a step above dating, although I thought it was the other way around before. Seeing each other means the other person is your “preferred” person to go out with. But it’s still not exclusive. You can still date other people. I guess you can be dating multiple people (even when you’re seeing someone) but you can’t be “seeing” more than one person at once. One person in the relationship may think they’re seeing each other while the other one may think they’re just dating. Confused? Good.
Going steady! You’ve had “the talk” about where this relationship is going and decided that you want to be exclusive with each other. How cute. Now you’re not allowed to date or see anyone else without at least text messaging your significant other and dumping them first. Unlike dating/seeing, there should be NO confusion between both parties about whether you’re boyfriend/girlfriend or not. Got that ladies? If you haven’t discussed it, he’s not your boyfriend. I think “going steady” is the same as “going out”, but I could be wrong.
I was also reminded that are are subcategories such as “hooking up” and “hanging out”. These aren’t really “relationships” per se, but I’ll take a shot at it anyway.
Hooking up. This happens fairly quickly and at least involves making out. It might be with a friend or someone you just met after a sloppy night at the Velvet Dog, but something physical happens and it’s often never spoken of again.
Hanging out. This is kind of a slang term because I could say I’m “hanging out” with my brother and it won’t mean what I’m about to describe. So you have to know what the person is saying. Sometimes people might hold up their hands and make the little quotation marks sign if they’re referring to this type of hanging out…
I like to think of hanging out as a regular way of hooking up. Maybe it even started as a hook up, but then the next weekend you invite the random college girl from Velvet Dog over to your place at one o’clock in the morning to watch a movie. You’re “hanging out”. You’re not dating because you’re not willing to spend more on her than the cost of a cheap bottle of liquor and some Video On Demand movie rental. Nor do you really have much interest in being seen in public with her. But it’s more than a hook up because it’s planned and regular.
So there you have it. I’m curious as to how on or off I am with these definitions. Please feel free to comment below. Personally, I think the “seeing each other” phase is stupid. It should go right from dating to going steady or not. Nothing in between. But whatever.
6 Responses to “What time is it? Time for a giant clock!Yep, fi…”
By Shannon on Apr 29, 2006 | Reply
Thanks, Choir Boy. I found this nicely amusing.
I think the “seeing each other” phase is necessary in some cases. For instance, some of us have baggage and walls and the idea of being officially anything is freakish. Talking about myself, by the way.
Maybe you can write a book after you’ve gathered enough data.
By Shannon on Apr 29, 2006 | Reply
Thanks, Choir Boy. I found this nicely amusing.
I think the “seeing each other” phase is necessary in some cases. For instance, some of us have baggage and walls and the idea of being officially anything is freakish. Talking about myself, by the way.
Maybe you can write a book after you’ve gathered enough data.
By Ben on May 1, 2006 | Reply
I think that Shannon likes you Jeremy
By Missy on May 2, 2006 | Reply
So here’s what I think on the topic. Dating and seeing each other, same thing. It’s what you do when your getting to know each other and figuring out if the person is the right one to commit yourself too. I think you’re on the mark with the rest. I say throw all the definitions out the window and just role with it. As along as the two parties communicate there are no questions.
By Stephanie on Jun 26, 2006 | Reply
see, i still think we are just hanging out, but it appears that he wants to move to going steady, when i’m not even comfortable saying that we are dating OR seeing each other…
By Anonymous on Sep 29, 2006 | Reply
Currently i am “seeing” a guy.. i don’t refer to it as dating although everyone thinks that dating means boyfriend and girlfriend.. your definitions seem to be correct… but i view seeing as… i’m not ready to commit.. but i like u