There are a lot of new words popping up around us when it comes to dating, love and sex. Language evolves, of course. New words find their way through a slow accretionary process and vocabulary expands.

The headline—new words added to the OED—is quite an essential around the changing of years. ‘Contactless’ and ‘adulting’ were among the additions in 2021 for example. Fine words. However this is evolution. Slow moving. Gradual. And in this case, imagining the fuddy duddies at work at the OED, the change is careful and deliberate. There is another shift. More mutation, if you will. Words that become relevant because the concepts they represent become necessary. Gaslighting, for example. Used effectively to expose the reality of toxic relationships, the word caught on.

And yes, there are cases of it being applied with insufficient examination, but that is a burden that all words carry. Today we will look at a list of words that is emerging around dating and sex, and try and unpack them and even pick favourites for eventual recognition as words.

https://misters.app.link/e/podcast