BREADCRUMBING Dating / Move
PRONUNCIATION : BREAD-crum-ing Breadcrumbing is when you send flirty but non-committal messages to a person when you ' re not really interested in dating them but don ' t have the guts to break things off with them completely . The breadcrumbee is strung along for the sake of sparing the breadcrumber a confrontation .
Etymology : Think of the phenomenon of getting a small creature to follow you by laying a trail of breadcrumbs here , and you ' ve got the right idea .
GHOSTING Dating / Move
PRONUNCIATION : GO-sting Ghosting is when you disappear out of someone ' s life because you ' re no longer interested in them , instead of telling them directly . It ' s more abrupt than breadcrumbing : the ghoster will suddenly stop replying to texts and won ' t answer calls , and the ghostee is usually left hurt and confused .
Etymology : You know the disappearing act ghosts are known for ? That , but it ' s your crush instead of a poltergeist .
ROACHING Dating / Move
PRONUNCIATION : ROW-ching Roaching is a new dating trend where people hide the fact that they ' re dating around from a new partner and , when confronted , claim to have simply been under the assumption that there was no implication of monogamy to begin with . In today ' s more poly-friendly dating culture , this is a slick tactic to shift the blame to the person confronting them , but the truth is it ' s both parties ' responsibility to be at least baseline open about seeing other people if that ' s the case . Roaching , as a result , is deeply messed up .
Etymology : Roaching refers to the adage that if you see one cockroach , there are a ton more that you don ' t see — just like this person ' s sneaky side-dealings .
CUSHIONING Dating / Move
PRONUNCIATION : KUSH-on-ing As above , cushioning is the process of staying in contact with one or more romantic prospects as a backup in case things don ' t go smoothly with your main squeeze . The " cushions " are usually kept on the periphery , eg . texting rather than full blown cheating .
Etymology : Cushioning , as in , keeping a person or several people around to " cushion " the blow if your main relationship doesn ' t work out .
KITTENFISHING Dating / Move
PRONUNCIATION :
KIT-in-FISH-ing Coined by dating app Hinge , Kittenfishing is when you portray yourself in an unrealistically positive light in your online dating profiles . We all do this to some extent , but kittenfishing crosses the border into dishonest territory : think photoshopped or very outdated profile pics , or listing " lawyer " as your occupation when you ' re really a first year law student .
Etymology : You already know about catfishing , when a person pretends to be someone they ' re not online . Well , kittenfishing is the lite version of that .
SUBMARINING Dating / Move
PRONUNCIATION : sub-muh-REE-ning Did you just get haunted , or zombied , but it felt even worse than usual ? Maybe you were submarined ! Submarining is when your old flame pops back up in your life after a lengthy period of silence , but rather than copping to the disappearance , simply acts as if dipping without warning is normal behaviour . This person knows they have you wrapped around their finger , so why put in the effort to apologize or explain ? They don ' t need to ! If you ' re getting submarined , pro tip : Get out of there before the whole thing sinks .
Etymology : Submarines go underwater ... and then occasionally pop back up to the surface ! That ' s normal behaviour for them .
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