Ok, what exactly is "dating" ?

[OC]

Well?

-OC

[Hiro]

I still don't know. Don't look to me for help.

[coleslaw]

Dating simply means that the shackles of the chain are wrapped around your ankle, yet the bolt has not yet been inserted. There is still an opportunity to remove the chain from your ankle and rid yourself of the ball and chain!

[StonedWheat]

Dating is the process of interviewing someone to become a potential life partner.

[revil]

Originally posted by StonedWheat
Dating is the process of interviewing someone to become a potential life partner.

All wrong! It's like trying it before you buy it. You gotta slap that ass to see if it feels right.

[NuTs62]

Originally posted by revil

All wrong! It's like trying it before you buy it. You gotta slap that ass to see if it feels right.

And once you determine that it feels right, you purchase it (BF GF stage) -- You have a 30-day money back guarantee. After that, its yours (Marriage). If you decide to return it (divorce), there will be a 50% restocking fee.

[coleslaw]

Originally posted by NuTs62
And once you determine that it feels right, you purchase it (BF GF stage) -- You have a 30-day money back guarantee. After that, its yours (Marriage). If you decide to return it (divorce), there will be a 50% restocking fee.

haha, funny, man, funny!

You break it, you buy it!

[ProMinx]

Dating is prostitution without any guarantee on the final product.

ProMinx

[Cheesypuff]

the only dating I know of is carbon 14 dating.

[oblongmelon]

Originally posted by overclocked
Well?

-OC

sounds to me like it's something you've not done in a while!

[topane]

Buying someone food in an attempt to get lucky.

[LPMiller]

Dating is marketing. You have presentation, the sales pitch, market surveys (friends), 2 hour long meetings about what went wrong, and eventually, layoffs.

[welfareloser]

boy, sounds like some people have had some naaaasty dating experiences.


i was just gonna say that it's getting to know someone one-on-one because you think they have long-term relationship potential... so being at the same place a lot with a group of friends doesn't count...

but that isn't funny like everyone else's response.

[WhiskeyPapa]

Anyone here ever heard of not dating? Several years ago my oldest son read a book called "I Kissed Dating Goodbye". It was pretty much about how dating is not emotionally healthy. It made a really big impact on him.

Anyway, he's 18, never been on a date, and just last night declared his intention to marry his "girlfriend" (for lack of a better word). This week his is going to talk to her parents about it. I guess you'd probably compare it to an old-fashioned courtship type relationship.

I'm starting to feel old...!

[mcs328]

Mutual romantic interest that may or may not eventually leads some gf/bf/so status.

But my friends tells me as long as one person has a interest then you're dating which I think is absurd b/c if I hang out with a girl and she has a romantic notion that I don't have a clue about then by that said definition we're dating. Seems psycho-ish or stalkerish.

That's just my opinion.

[NuTs62]

Originally posted by welfareloser

but that isn't funny like everyone else's response.

i'm sure more than a few of us were joking around

[revil]

Originally posted by NuTs62


i'm sure more than a few of us were joking around

WHO?!

[brainsmile]

dating is when eSDloco stiffs you on the superbowl party

[mojo]

cut 'em in half and count the rings

[TERRIBLETOM]

If your married and meet a friend (he/she) for a drink, is that considered a date?

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by TERRIBLETOM
If your married and meet a friend (he/she) for a drink, is that considered a date?

it is IF:

1. you'd rather not have your sig other there, even tho he/she would like to come

2. you are engaging in any emotional attachment to the person that you'd rather hide from your significant other

3. you feel the need to hide it from your sig other for any reason

[TERRIBLETOM]

Originally posted by welfareloser


it is IF:

1. you'd rather not have your sig other there, even tho he/she would like to come

2. you are engaging in any emotional attachment to the person that you'd rather hide from your significant other

3. you feel the need to hide it from your sig other for any reason

The way I asked it seemed so much simpler and innocent. No hidden doors, just a simple question.

[ProMinx]

I don't believe that you should terminate friendly relationships with members of the opposite sex based on your relationship with another person; however, if the friend expresses any type of non-friendly interest in you...I believe you have a responsibility to tell them quite clearly that you're off the market...and rethink what types of situations might be appropriate with that friend. Sorry for the vague or general language...

ProMinx

[Memo]

Originally posted by TERRIBLETOM
If your married and meet a friend (he/she) for a drink, is that considered a date?

Just because you're on a diet doesn't mean you can't look at the menu.

[welfareloser]

Originally posted by TERRIBLETOM
The way I asked it seemed so much simpler and innocent. No hidden doors, just a simple question.

there's no such thing as "just" a simple question. there are two possible answers to the question - yes and no. there is nothing cool about the situation if the answer is "yes." and asking the question implies that "yes" is a possibility - you don't ask if the only answer possible is no, that makes the question pointless.

point being, a question about whether or not someone is cheating is not like a question about whether gala apples taste better than granny smiths.

prominx brought up a good point ... if the other person has an interest, or has no interest and is flirting just to try to get you to flirt back and thus feel sexy and powerful, it is absolutely your responsibility, not to end the friendship, but to make it clear that you will never respond in kind to any such behavior because you are with someone else and that's that.

i've seen so many people get into unresolveable arguments about:

"i can't believe you let her do that!"
"do what?"
"hang all over you like that! i was right there!"
"like anything was going to happen, don't be so possessive."
"i'm not being possessive, i just think you should have made her stop."
"like how? push her away? freak out every time she touches me? yeah, that'd be reeeeal nice. she did it, not me. it's not like i'm going to cheat on you."

okay, so the guy (in this case, it's reversed half the time) is missing the point. there are easy ways to signal that you don't want to be touched. it is easy to be nice, kind, polite, friendly, etc, in a way that also discourages flirting. but a lot of guys and girls will encourage it because it makes them feel good, to the detriment of the feelings of their significant other.

if you want to hang out with an opposite sex friend, fine. if your sig other doesn't want to be there, fine. if you don't want him/her there because you feel like they would be watching you like a jailer, then the problem is one of two things - either your sig other is just unreasonably jealous and a pain in the butt no matter how good you are (yeah right ) or you are not taking care of your responsibility to discourage sexual tension with someone you are not "with."

this, of course, applies only to "i love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you" relationships... if you're "just dating," and especially if you're not even dating exclusively, i think it's pretty much understood that you reserve the right have romantic connections of various levels with others, and the semi-sig-other can either take it or leave it.

[WhiskeyPapa]

I have a few rules in my life that relate to this:

1. I have NO friends of the opposite sex that are not better friends with my wife.

2. I am NEVER alone with another woman. I made that very clear to my boss that I will not go on any business trips in which it would be just me and another woman. I told him that before I was hired, and he's cool with it.

3. If I have to meet with a woman, the door to the office, conference room, or whatever, stays open.

Y'all are probably thinking I'm some kind of freak, but I'm reminded of the presidential campaign of Gary Bauer, a conservative Christian. Allegations were made that he was having an affair with his campaign manager. The only substantial evidence the media could offer was that he spent a lot of time with her behind closed doors in his office. Who knows if he was having an affair, but if his office door had been left open, there would be no room left for accusations.

[whitak24]

Originally posted by welfareloser


it is IF:

1. you'd rather not have your sig other there, even tho he/she would like to come

2. you are engaging in any emotional attachment to the person that you'd rather hide from your significant other

3. you feel the need to hide it from your sig other for any reason

i think this debate has to do with a slight confusion of the definitions of "date" and "dating".

as most people here have indicated, "dating" involves some sort of ongoing relationship with someone whom you have some sort of romantic, physical, emotional, etc connection with.

the term "date", on the other hand, has a myriad of meanings. for instance, parents arrange "play dates" for their children. does that imply that the children have some sort of romantic interest in each other. of course not (although retarded parents always think it is so "cute" to romantically link their 4-year-olds )

"date", in its most general sense, means a meeting or get-together with someone else. so no matter who you're meeting for coffee, it's a "date".

tom seems to be asking "is it wrong?" if that is the case, i think the "WelfareLoser 3-Point Test for Evaluating Appropriate Activities After Marriage" is fairly apt.