Hello! Hello! Hello everybody, my name is Steve Ford and welcome to Learn English Live 33
today I have a question from Zacharia or Zachary
from Morocco, so let's take a listen to his question
hello Morocco and hello Zachary
thank you very much for your question about English grammar
it's a question I think a lot of people are asking themselves about right now
and one of the grammar points that I find a lot of people have problems with
is used to, get used to and to be used to
so when you read it in the grammar book, you understand it
but using it is entirely different
so today we're gonna talk about used to, get used to and to be used to
in the context of fun
and goinna be talking about dating
so let's go
so what was dating like when you were a teenager?
or maybe you are a teenager or you're going to be a teenager
are there certain rules and etiquette involved?
in dating in your country or your culture?
well here in North America, dating habits have changed from what they used to be
and there was a time period for people to get used to new dating habits
and there are the dating habits that young people are used to doing today
so here in north America from the pre-1900s all the way up to
just before the 1920s
dating didn't really exist, it was called courtship
and courtship was a date that was set up
or arranged by the parents, the mother and father of the woman
in the presence of her family
and if they were lucky enough, maybe they could sneak a kiss in
when the parents weren't looking
or maybe they were sleeping
so by the 1920s, young people were able to go out dating
and that's when that expression came out: to ask someone out
because they finally could leave their parent's parlor room or their parent's living room
and go out somewhere with the opposite sex
so that's when proms became very popular
and a high school prom, as you've probably seen in a lot of American movies
is a party which everybody dresses up for
and they often go in a nice car or a limousine
so young people got used to playing the field or shopping around
i.e. looking for more than one partner before getting married
those are two great expressions and you'll notice that I used that they
got used to, so they became comfortable with doing that, right?
they're going through the changes of dating here
more changes continued as women got used to wearing a letterman jacket or a high school ring
given by their boyfriend to show that they were going steady
and going steady means that you date someone
for a longer duration of time
and that;s when this term came up: to go steady with someone
and they got used to doing that
that tradion, strangely enough, carried on until quite recently, if not until today because
I can remember when I was in high school
it was common for girls to wear the hockey jackets
or the jackets of the guys from the football team
in the 1960s and 70s it was the time of free love
why? one big reason: the pill
so a woman would say, "I'm on the pill"
that means she's taking birth control so that she won;t get pregnant
another change that they became comfortable with doing
in the 1980s and 90s people started to get used to the idea
of hooking up
instead of attachment
and hooking up with someone means that there is "no strings attached"
meaning that there are no obligations, no commitments
in the relationship, so it's not exactly dating
where there is some kind of commitment
however short or long
today, here in North America, approximately 22%
are used to having their first date without actually seeing each other in person
and what popular app that they do that on
is Tinder and that's where you can post your own profile
and through these magic algorithms
and software they are able to find you appropriate matches
according to your tastes, according to your location
so many different things
and a new expression has developed which is "swipe right"
and in case you don't know, swipe is when you
do that with your touch screen, swipe
and if you swipe right on the person, that means that you accept
them as a candidate
and that;s gonna be your first date when you're texting them a message
OK everybody, that;s my lesson for today on dating
talking about things that people used to do
that people are getting used to now
or had to get used to
and things that people are used to doing now
and I look forward to our next learn English live lesson
if you have a question, please leave your question at the link below
bye for now