I Like You but You’re Not yet My Friend. What Do We Call Each Other?

hunterwalk.com

1 pointimartin2k3 comments

A thesaurus is helpful for questions like this.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Thesaurus:friend lists many, including buddy, bud, mate, pal, comrade, and chum.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Thesaurus:acquaintance adds associate.

Long ago, I tried to ask a woman out on a simple date, and she immediately branded me as her "buddy", such that I was so mortified and insulted that I just backed out completely.

I feel that Facebook has done something rather presumptuous to our nomenclature and hijacked the term "friend", because now I feel like I need to clarify if someone is my "FB friend", or really-a-friend, or can I more accurately describe this relationship, because I have a lot of shallow ones that aren't friendship after all, even though I had deluded myself into thinking so. For example, the guy I met on St. Patrick's Day, we've been texting, and now he doesn't seem interested in reimbursing me $86 for a couple of tickets he said he wanted...

I see no issue with `acquaintance`.

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