A glossary for 2022 dating terms

Ruchi Ruuh
Sep 1, 2022
3 min read

Updated: Sep 2, 2022

Are you benched? Is there bread in breadcrumbing? Or are they just out fishing?

As dating gets simplified (or complicated) there are a whole lot of terms floating around social media. Now, these are new age ‘dating’ trends but also the reddest of the red flags 🚩 too. Some of them are as brutal as they can get.

Here's a glossary of the ‘2022 dating terms’

1. Fishing

Sending many messages out to various people to see who bites. Out of those that do, you then select whom you want to reply to and ignore those who don't excite you.

2. Benching

The act of keeping someone on the side-line as an option when you're either not ready to commit or simply don't feel strongly enough about them to go much further.

3. Cushioning

Cushioning is like "having a backup plan" or "plan B", It is having other dating options in case the current relationship tanks out. The ‘cushion people’ are there to soften your fall in case there is a breakup.

4. Serendipidating

This means putting off a date in the hope something better comes along. Basically, this term is a new age way of saying ‘grass is always greener on the other side’.

5. Catch and release

The term means enjoying the thrill of the chase but losing interest once they’re caught. So, there are no actual ‘dates’, just flirtations. It’s all about the chase.

6. Breadcrumbing

Breadcrumbing is when they leave a trail of breadcrumbs – Hansel and Gretel style – in the form of flirty messages, DMs (replying to Instagram stories) to keep you interested.

7. Tuning

The term literally means keeping things at a level of plausible deniability. In simpler words: Flirting for the sake of flirting without any interest in anything further.

8. Ghosting

Not a new term but it literally means what it says. ghosting is when someone ends all contact without explanation — profile unmatched, messages unanswered, calls avoided.

9. Ghostbusting

A Ghostbuster is a person who continues to text and call even when they have been ghosted.

10. Caspering

This is the nicer version of ghosting since Casper was “the friendly ghost,”. The person lets you know they are going to disappear. Which essentially means they break up with you, just not in person or with a legitimate reason.

11. Zombie-ing

This term means when the person who ghosted you comes back to life. With a simple “hey” text (or by likes or comments on posts), the person resurfaces after being out of touch for a long time and acts like they never ghosted.

12. Haunting

When someone with whom you’ve broken up won’t engage in a meaningful conversation, but they watch what’s going on in your life through your social media posts.

13. Peacocking

Peacocking in dating means that one person puts on a show (not subtle) to get attention — dressing up in a certain way, showing off their talents, or looking socially acceptable.

14. Catfishing

It means being lured into an online relationship by someone who is pretending to be someone else. The catfish usually use someone else’s name, photo, description, etc.

15. Cuffing season

A period of time when single people begin looking for short-term partnerships for a few months of the year. Like seasonal dating.

16. Love bombing

Love bombing is when a person showers a new partner with intense displays of affection early on, to get them hooked to them.

17. Devaluing and discarding

The cycle of intense interest to total disdain. The relationship is a roller-coaster of kindness followed by cruelty, abuse, and toxicity, followed by kindness again. It breaks confidence and leaves one feeling depleted and confused

18. Gaslighting

When someone makes you question your own sanity and reality while they slowly and methodically take control. ‘This never happened’, ‘I never said that’, ‘You didn’t hear that properly’, are few of the statements you’ll hear.

19. Hoovering

When an ex wants to get back into your life by offering an empty apology (not supported by actual actions), in an attempt to bring you back into their life and restart the relationship.

20. Fauxbae’ing

It’s pretending to be involved with someone when you are not even dating to make an ex-partner jealous or just to show off to their friends.

21. Stashing.

Pretty much the opposite of fauxbae’ing, stashing is when you are dating someone but they keep you a secret from their friends or family, and don’t post about you at all on social media.

22. Shaveducking

Losing interest or attraction for someone simply because they shaved.

23. Fauci-ing

Fauci-ing is the act of turning down a date because someone isn’t taking the pandemic seriously enough.

24. Woke-fishing

Wokefishing is when someone portrays themselves as more progressive than they are, usually on social media, in order to impress others or simply because they aren’t as well-versed on the issues as they believe themselves to be.