Advice

|19 Apr 2023|3 mins

2023 Dating Terms Explained

How to tell a breadcrumber from an orbiter…

You’ve heard of ghosting, but what about orbiting, breadcrumbing or benching? Dating can be a minefield without learning a whole new language to navigate it, so we’ve broken down the glossary of modern day dating terms to make labelling your situationship a whole lot easier.

Beige Flags

Duller than a flat out red flag (warning!), beige flags can signal mediocrity – or laziness. For example, not pouring any personality into their dating profile or social media, or stating that they like universally popular things which probably go without saying. Who doesn’t like pizza? Tell us something we don’t know.

Benching

As in sport. Not 100% ready to dive in, you’re keeping someone on the bench (aka dating limbo) in case there’s an opportunity for a call-up. Bit savage.

Breadcrumbing

Enticing just enough without committing. Someone may be dropping you breadcrumbs to keep you following along without parting with the whole loaf.

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Cobwebbing

You’re blowing off the cobwebs left around your home by a former flame, in order to make way for a fresh relationship. A dating spring clean, if you will. Donate their old t-shirt they left behind, recycle their toothbrush, swap that polaroid for one with your mates…

Cuffing

A timely term that means locking someone down before a cold and lonely winter, or ‘cuffing season’. For those who want to be cuffed to a Netflix partner before it gets far too cold to go out meet someone in the real world – for the next few months at least.

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Cushioning

Having the perceived safety net of trusty constant love interests there in the background juuuust in case your current one doesn’t pan out the way you hope.

Orbiting

So you’ve already ghosted them / they’ve ghosted you, but one of you still keeps an eye from afar. If an ex still watches your stories but you don’t communicate in the ‘real world’, they’re orbiting you. Are they checking up on you to see how things are going or making sure you don’t forget about them?

Pocketing

Essentially keeping you / the relationship in their pocket along with their phone. If someone doesn’t mention you on their social media – especially a decent way down the road – they could be pocketing you. Red flag!

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