Plenty of Fish Dating Trends Dictionary
The official online reference source, listing alphabetically the dating trends identified by Plenty of Fish that singles have experienced since the year 2017 and beyond!
| DATING TERM | DEFINITION |
|---|---|
| Apocalypsing (/ah-poc-a-lyps-ing) | Treating every relationship like it’s your last and getting super serious with someone you just started dating. |
| Baby Zoomers (bay-bee zu-murs) | A term to describe the new ‘generation’ of babies conceived during lockdown. |
| Banksying (/banks-ee-ing/) | Like Girl With Balloon was shredded and ruined on purpose, this is a breakup that is carefully planned way in advance. |
| Barnard-castling (/bahr-nahr-d-cahs-ling) | Getting caught out by your partner for using outlandish excuses inspired by Dominic Cummings. |
| Bradying (/braid-e-ing) | Ending a long-term relationship despite friends and family thinking you’re making a mistake. |
| Causeplaying (/kawz-play-ing/) | When a casual relationship fizzles out, only to have one person later circle back with a favor to ask (usually about supporting a good cause). |
| Cohabidating (/ko-ha-ba-date-ing/) | Shacking up with your new partner in a hurry to relieve financial stress, even though you may not be quite ready yet. |
| Connell-vision (/kon-nell-vish-un) | Fancying someone based on their fashion sense, just as the nation drooled over Normal People’s Connell and his famous chain. |
| Cricketing (/krik-it-ing/) | Leaving someone on “read” for too long and taking much too long to continue the conversation. |
| Dial-Toning (/dahy-uh l-tohn-ing/) | Different from ghosting, dial-toning is ignoring someone before a relationship ever begins. It’s the act of giving someone your phone number only to ignore them when they reach out. |
| Eclipsping (/ih-klips-ing/) | Adopting the interests or hobbies of someone you’re dating after pretending you like them too. |
| Endgame-ing (/end-geym-ing) | Accidently sending a NSFW photo or video to someone you’re dating. |
| Exoskeleton-ing (/ex-oh skell-eh-tun-ing/) | When the ex of your current partner keeps reaching out to you. |
| Fauci-ing (/fau-chee-ing) | Declining to date someone because you don’t feel they’re taking COVID-19 seriously enough. |
| Faux-baeing (/foh-bey-ing/) | Pretending to have a significant other over social media when you’re actually single. |
| Fleabagging (/flee bag-ing/) | Consistently dating the wrong people for you. |
| Flexting (/fle-ks-t-ing/) | Digital boasting to impress a date before meeting IRL. |
| Folklore-ing (/fo-klore-ing) | Being so focused on a fairytale romance that expectations don’t match reality. |
| Ghostbusting (/ghost-bugst-ing/) | Continuing to text someone after they’ve ghosted you. |
| Glamboozled (/glam-boo-zuh l’d/) | Getting fully done up for a date only to have them cancel or your plans fall through at the last minute. |
| Grande-ing (/grahn-day-ing/) | Personal celebration after a break-up, as made popular by Ariana Grande. |
| Hey & Pray (/Hey and prey) | Indiscriminately spamming every match with a basic “Hey there,” “hey you,” “Hey,” “Hi,” and praying that someone will respond and be interested. |
| Instagrandstaning (/insta-grand-stand-ing/) | Posting on your social feed, specifically for one person’s benefit. |
| Kondo-ing (/kon-doe-ing/) | Dumping anyone who isn’t bringing you joy in your dating life. |
| Love Loiterer (/luv-loy-tur-or/) | Those who drag out the early stages of dating and have no intention of committing long term. |
| Maskerading (/mas-kuh-reyd-ing) | Fronting that you care about COVID-19 safety precautions for optics or to impress a match. |
| Proofing (/pru-fing) | Giving a relationship time to breathe and not rushing into it. |
| Sanitizing (/san-i-tahyz-ing) | The act of wiping your social media of all photographic evidence of a past relationship. |
| Scrooging (/skroo-jing/) | Breaking up with someone shortly before the festive season, so you don’t have to get them a gift. |
| Serendipidating (/ser-uh n-dip-i-deyt-ing/) | Putting off a date and “leaving it up to fate” in case someone better comes along in the interim. |
| Stalk-blocking (/stawk blok-ing) | Making your social media accounts private so prospective dates can’t creep on you. |
| Throning (/throw-ning/) | Dating someone just to boost your personal profile or reputation. |
| Tok-Blocking (/tawk-blok-ing) | When you watch TikTok all day and realize it’s massively interfering with your dating life. |
| Twice Baked (/twy-s-bayk-d) | When someone’s chat is twice baked and you have the same repetitive boring COVID-19 convos, from sourdough to banana bread. |
| Type-Casting (/tahyp kas-ting/) | Exclusively dating people based on Myers-Briggs Type or “Love Language” compatibility. |
| Vulturing (/vul-ture-ing/) | Becoming much more romantically interested in someone when you sense their relationship is about to break up, and swooping in to woo them. |
| Waldo-ing (/wawl-doh-ing) | When someone only posts group photos on their dating profile, making it hard to determine who they are and what they look like. |
| White Clawing (/hwahyt-klaw-ing/) | The act of staying with someone who you find basic and boring only because you find them attractive. |
| White Walking (/wite-walk-ing/) | Actively seeking a new date for Valentine’s Day, directly linked to a cold snap or snow storm. |
| Yellow Carding (/yel-oh kahrd-ing/) | When someone is called out on their poor dating behaviour. |
| You-Turning (/yu-tern-ing) | When you fall head over heels with someone, and then suddenly change your mind due to a total deal breaker. |
| Zoomlander-ing (/zoom-lan-der-ing) | When a Zoom date spends the entire time checking themselves out in the camera instead of looking at the person they’re on a date with. |
