Hello.
Are you on Tinder?
Have you ever tried internet dating?
If you have or if you are, good luck; and I mean that sincerely, but there's going to
be a lot of terms or things that you probably don't know what they mean, and they're kind
of important.
So, because of this new... well, not so new, but because of the invention of Tinder or
internet-dating sites, they've actually made a whole new language because of this, which
is cool.
This is how English progresses, this is how language changes, this is how new slang is made.
So, I'm going to teach you some internet-dating slang.
The first column we have are just letters.
So, maybe you're looking at someone's profile, which means their picture and their information,
and you have some crazy A, B, W, D, DD-what?-letters.
This is what they mean: "A" means Asian - yay.
So, "Asian" means you are from Asia.
"B" means black; "W" means white.
Now, it's funny because I was reading recently about being politically correct, and apparently
being politically correct you're not allowed to say: "black" or "white", but you can still
say "Asian".
They want to say things, like: "Caucasian".
But I think if you put: "A", "B", "C", people would get confused.
So, we have Asian, black, and white.
Then we also have our sexual orientation.
So, for example: "Bi" means bi-sexual.
"Bi-sexual" means you like both males and females.
So, if you look at these acronyms... if you look at these acronyms, we have: "BGM", so
this would be a black gay male.
Then we have an "AGF" - this would be an Asian gay female.
So, you can use these acronyms to tell the person your race and also your sexual orientation.
I don't know.
Probably we would have "S" for... we would have "S" for straight, but usually that's
known.
We have "D" for divorced.
"N/S" means a non-smoker.
Now, it doesn't specify if they don't smoke cigarettes or if they don't smoke drugs, but
"non-smoker" usually means they don't smoke cigarettes; if they smoke drugs, that's something
different.
They might have something like: "420-friendly".
If someone says on their profile that they are 420-friendly, it means that they smoke
marijuana or they smoke weed, but not cigarettes.
"N/K" means no kids.
"D&D free" - this is not Dungeons and Dragons, okay?
Please don't get excited, but you should get excited.
I don't know why this has to be on a profile, but drug and disease free.
Congratulations.
This is an accomplishment.
Then we have ways to define what we are looking for in the relationship.
We have the "LTR".
Is that a light-train railroad?
No.
An "LTR" means someone's looking for a long-term relationship.
This means they're looking for someone to have a proper relationship for over a long
period of time.
It's always curious: How can you determine that?
Like, this is what you want, but I mean, like: What's forever?
The next one is "FWB".
This means friends with benefits.
Now, these benefits do not mean healthcare or dental care.
"Friends with benefits" mean this is going to be your friend, but you have sex with your
friend.
So, you're not looking for a long-term relationship; you're probably not looking for a relationship
at all; all you are looking for is a friend to have sex with.
So: "FWB" - friends with benefits.
And the other problem is that a lot of people lie and they say they want a long-term relationship,
but they just want friends with benefits; it's crazy.
I hope you're getting some dental care in there.
Another kind of relationship we have, we don't have an acronym for this (we don't have initials
for this), it's called a "casual relationship", so casual sex.
This means two people... three?
Two people hang out, they maybe have sex regularly, but they're not interested in a serious relationship.
So, basically you don't know their friends, you're not introduced to their family; you're
just there - it's basically you're friends with benefits.
So, I think a casual relationship and friends with benefits might be the same, but this
might be that you just have one friend that you see, but you're not interested in a long-term
relationship.
Be careful: "Hook-ups" in the world of internet-dating slang just means sex.
So, some people might put in their profile: "Looking for hook-ups."
That just means that they're interested in only sex.
They don't even want to be your friend; they just want to have sex with you.
Then we get into some really crazy terms.
These are all new to me, and most of them are pretty negative.
People are kind of weird out there.
The first one is "ghosting" - oo!
So, basically this means that you... the person you're talking to disappears; they become
a ghost.
So, you start to communicate with someone, then the person texts you back, but they never
text back after a while and they don't give you a reason.
So, maybe for a couple of days you're texting back and forth, and then you send them a text
and they never text you back.
Did they die?
Probably not; they may be breadcrumbing or benching.
So, basically they become a ghost; they disappear from your life.
This is normal.
I...
I mean, we do this all the time.
We did this before internet dating, but now we have a term for it - yay!
Ghosts - so scary.
Next one is "benching".
Now, if you play sports or if you don't play sports, maybe you are a bench warmer.
So, a "benchwarmer" is a person who sits on the bench and is ready to play in the game
if another player gets injured or if they need to substitute a player.
This works the same way in the world of dating.
So, a "bench warmer"... sorry, "benching" is... you're a "benchwarmer".
You keep a person interested-maybe you text them every once in a while-but you keep a
person ready just in case your relationship fails.
So, maybe you're in a relationship, you have a boyfriend or girlfriend, but you still text
a couple people on the side just in case your relationship falls through.
These people are warming your bench.
Thank you, benchwarmers.
The next one: "Breadcrumbing".
Do you know the fable of Hansel and Gretel?
Bread crumbs are little pieces of bread.
So, this means sexting.
Oo, do you know what "sexting" means?
"Sexting" means you text people, but you're talking about sexual things - oo; not about
cats and dogs.
Okay?
You're not talking about cats and dogs; you're singing... you're sending sexual messages.
So, "breadcrumbing" means you talk to the person, maybe you send them flirty texts:
"Hi.
How are you?
What are you wearing tonight?" but you have no intent or intention of actually meeting
them.
So, it's basically a person that you're texting that doesn't exist in real life.
They're in your imagination and on your phone; you text them: "Oh, ha-ha-ha-ha", but you
will never, ever want to meet them.
It's like an imaginary friend, I guess.
It's imaginary friend for the year 2018 or whatever year you're watching in.
So, "breadcrumbing" - imaginary friend.
Next one: If someone has written in their profile: "Netflix and chill" - hey, guess
what?
This means they want to have sex.
So, you could think of it like a home date.
They'll invite you to their house for Netflix and chill.
Maybe you get to watch some Netflix, but "chill" basically means they want to have sex.
Watch a movie and have sex - Netflix and chill.
Next one.
Meow.
This one has become so popular-common-that it's now a TV show.
And I think the TV show is called Catfish.
Meow.
So, "catfishing" is when someone uses maybe a fake profile picture or a completely fake
profile.
So, they pretend to be someone else.
They pretend to be someone they're not.
They lie to you.
Maybe they are married, maybe they have children but they don't tell you you have children.
So, it's basically like they have a secret life.
So, on the internet they're single, blah, blah, blah; but actually they're married with
12 kids and they live in Alaska, but you think they're your neighbour.
So, catfishing: If you watch it on TV, I'm sure it's very fun and entertaining.
Be careful; this is just straight-out lying, but instead of saying "lying", they say "catfishing".
I don't know why it's a catfish.
The next technique we have is called "cushioning".
Now, "cushion" is something that's soft on the seat.
Okay?
So, "cushioning" means you are communicating with many different romantic prospects.
This is what internet dating is all about.
I've written like a to-do list; so maybe you have a date with one person-chh-didn't work.
Next on the list.
Internet dating gives you the ability to do this.
And I don't know, is that good for society?
Does it help us take people for granted?
I'm not too sure, but that's what "cushioning" means.
So you just... you go through people and go: "This one?
No.
This one?
No."
Good.
And the last one - I think this is funny: "roaching".
Do you know what a cockroach is?
Oh, I said "cock".
Haha.
So, a "cockroach" is a bug and everyone hates cockroaches.
They live in your house; they live in my house.
I have loads of them; they're my friends.
So, a cockroach is a bug.
Now, the problem with cockroaches is... the problem with cockroaches are if you see one
cockroach, you know that there are many other cockroaches hiding in the walls.
There's one brave guy that's like: "Yeah, I want some food!"
So, "cockroaching" in the dating scene means that you hide that you are dating other people.
This is lying, again.
All of this is just lies and deceit.
Humans are terrible.
Basically it's on the idea that if you see one cockroach, you know that there's going
to be many other cockroaches that are hiding.
You can't see them.
So, this person is being dishonest with you.
This person has more than one girlfriend or more than one boyfriend.
Not a good thing.
So, with all these crazy animals-we've got cockroaches, we've got catfish, we've got
breadcrumbing-how are you ever going to do this?
I don't know.
Why don't you try the old-fashion way?
Go and have a conversation with someone.
They just might like you - wow.
Good luck out there.
Take care.
Love to all.