2024 dating slang. Defining modern relationships!

Dating is getting trickier and trickier each day that passes, and the dating code has changed a lot in the last couple of years. Now relationships are more diverse and more specific, so that it can fit the needs of a wider range of people, so we can easily say that things are no longer black or white in terms of dating, but more of an extended grey area.

This grey area encompasses a couple of new terms that have entered the 2024 dating slang vocabulary, terms that are useful to know and understand no matter if we are talking about escort dating, sugar dating or traditional dating.

Breadcrumbing

Breadcrumbing is defined as a relationship between two people, where one is fully committed to make the relationship work while the other avoids making a solid commitment and leads the other partner on….it leaves breadcrumbs so that the other partner receives just enough time and affection to keep being interested in the relationship, while the one doing the breadcrumbing is always one arm’s length away in the relationship.

Situation-ship

We all know what being in a relationship technically means – exclusivity, commitment, fidelity and so on, but do you know what being in a situation-ship means?!

The term situation-ship has started to be widely used in 2023 when people needed to put a label on a type of relationship more and more frequent among younger people.

Being in a situation-ship means that both partners agree to remain vague about the relationship they are in and about the future of that relationship.

• a relationship involves as we’ve mentioned above, commitment and an agreed future together;
• a friends-with-benefits type of relationship means both partners mutually agreeing to label their relationship as friendship with sexual intimacy involved;
• while a situation-ship remains vague, both partners do not agree to a common label, and there are not set in stone benefits or commitments.

Orbiting

You say that someone is orbiting you when, even though your relationship ended, that person still interacts with your posts on social media, through likes and comments.

You are no longer together but he/she keeps orbiting you without addressing you directly.

Ghosting

This one is already very well-known and frequently used. Ghosting is used when a person you are dating suddenly disappears, usually without leaving any message behind, calling, texting or leaving a note.

But now, in 2024, ghosting has a younger brother: submarining!

Submarining

Someone is submarining you if after an indefinite number of dates he/she is suddenly ending contact with you on all platforms – phone, texts, social media and so on, only to reappear months later dropping by and saying “hi” as if nothing has happened.

Roaching

In a time where all relationships must be labeled and the relationship status must be discussed in advance, roaching can easily appear.

You say that someone is roaching you when you date a certain person thinking that you are seeing each other exclusively (that means you only see one person, without dating others in the meantime), while the other person commits roaching – continues to see other people, with the excuse that you haven’t had the exclusivity talk in advance!

Soft launch

In a time when life happens on social media and everything is documented, from getting engaged, to getting married, divorcing, or announcing the gender of your future baby, there’s a new type of revealing going on. And if the announcement of the baby’s gender is named “Baby Gender Revealing”, the pre-announcement of one getting involved in a serious relationship is called “Soft Launching”.

Yeah, you’ve heard it right, soft launching is just a pre-announcement, because it means dropping just some hints on social media regarding that person’s love life. So, if you’ve been single for a while and now you are in a relationship, you don’t just announce it by posting a photo of yourself next to your significant other!

No, what you do instead is softly launch the news by posting vague photos of two glasses of wine on a dinner table, two hands joined, a wrinkled bed with objects on both nightstands and so on.

From soft launching, to orbiting, roaching, submarining and breadcrumbing, there are so many new types of relationships. What's your relationship status, have you encountered any of the situations mentioned above?