I've had a lot of fun this week reading about some of the slang terms used both in the past and currently with regards to dating and relationships, and how much I take for granted some of the words I use daily that might not make a lot of sense to someone not familiar with the English language, or even someone not familiar with regional variations. For instance, hooking up is an oft-used slang term, but the age of the person using it as well as where they live will determine what "hooking up" really means. For some, hooking up refers to having casual sex, others use it to define casual dating or friends with benefits, while for yet others it means merely spending time together.

Every subset of the dating world seems to have its own slang terms as well. Pickup artists use words like [kino](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/od/glossarywordsijk/g/kino.htm), [avatar](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/od/glossarywordsa/g/avatar.htm) and [peacocking](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/od/glossarywordspq/g/peacocking.htm), folks in the UK refer to [sailor's elbows](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/od/glossarywords1/g/definitionsailorselbow.htm), relationship therapists are hearing words like [umfriend](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/od/glossarywordsuv/g/umfriend.htm), [textationship](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/od/glossarywordst/g/definitionoftextationship.htm) and [exing](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/od/glossarywordsef/g/whatisexing.htm) being used by their clients, and poly folks refer to slang terms like [NRE](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/od/glossarywordsn/g/nre.htm), [abundant love](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/od/glossarywordsa/g/abundantlove.htm), and [open relationships](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/od/reference/g/openrelations.htm).

Do you have any slang terms that you use to refer to a partner, a relationship or a fling? What are they, and how did they get started?

[Dating Slang Terms](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/b/2009/09/09/dating-slang-terms.htm) originally appeared on [About.com Dating](http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&zu=http://dating.about.com/) on Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 at 14:28:47.

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