Whenever I try to pinpoint when the “talking” phase became a thing, I just can’t. And maybe that’s because this ridiculousness has gone on for way too long. It is seriously one of the worst things to call whatever it is we are doing now a day and it makes everything way more complicated than it needs to be.

Typically, most people use the term “talking” to literally describe that they are hanging out with someone regularly, talking to them constantly—usually via text message--, and they sometimes do things that people in relationships do. Now, usually when they hang out it is in one of three places; social settings, places that serve food, and each other’s houses…

You know what that sounds like to me……DATING!

We’re going to take another step back though, and ask; why do people want to call it talking? In my experience—and probably most other peoples—talking is a thing because people do not want to have to commit to something. And USUALLY, people are “talking” to more than one person at a time. Also, talking literally doesn't leave you with any expectations, most people are so uncaring about the whole thing.

One, who said that just because you’re dating that means that you’re in a serious relationship. As far as I knew, dating meant just that; going out together and enjoying someone’s company once in a while. No one said there was much commitment to that except the fact that you were going to try to enjoy some time with someone. Most mature adults, go on dates with multiple people until they figure out they enjoy someone’s company enough that they want to enter something more serious with that person.

Two, please go try to explain to your grandmother, or other older family member, what talking is. They will most likely say that you like them, or that you are “dating” in all literal sense of the word…. I know that’s so taboo, but get over it.

Let’s go ahead and take a look at the definitions of these two words:

Dating according to Merriam-Webster is “an appointment to meet at a specified time; especially: a social engagement between two persons that often has a romantic character”.

Now, for talking, I had to go on Urban Dictionary since it’s not actually a thing, and I found two very great definitions to go with my point:

• When two people like each other and are getting to know each other better, but are still single and not "going out" yet.
• New-age term for "dating". The process of going out on dates and getting to know another person, prior to being in a relationship with them.

Do you see what I am getting at here? Why do we insist on calling it talking? It is the exact same thing as dating. It would be really nice if we could all just get over this phase and start calling it dating again. Dating is not that serious, but at least we all feel better about ourselves when we say we are going on a date with someone we like, as opposed to just “hanging out”. We wondering and complain all the time about how relationships and dating in this age are not what they used to be. Well, it is because we come up with these stupid non-committal phrases that literally mean the same thing that we are scared of. Face your fears people, embrace the date.