Let’s talk about sex, baby! But wait — before we can get down and dirty, let’s make sure we’re actually on the same page. It’s not just your WGSS class that’ll make you reconsider your definition of sex — modern dating (and technically not-dating) comes with a whole host of nebulous terms and confusing etiquette. What’s a situationship? What does a “wyd” text entail? To find out, we asked WashU students how they define the lingo of today’s youth and came away with a surprising conclusion: “It’s complicated.”

Situationship: 

• “Exclusive but not exclusive.” – Rachel Fike, first-year
• “There’s aspects of dating, but you don’t want to put a label on it. It’s dating, but not dating. You want to be exclusive, but you don’t want to have a girlfriend. Because if something better comes up, you’re like, ‘Well, I can go get that.’” – Riley Merrigan, senior
• “Casual dating without labels… If you were talking to people in their mid-30s they would say it’s just like going on dates.” – Katherine Feng, sophomore

Hookup:

• “Hooking up is sex.” – Joey Zeigler Towey, first-year
• “Could be just making out, but it tends to imply more than that.” – Neela Myers, first-year
• “A make out and beyond.” – William Weinstein, sophomore

Talking Stage:

• “It’s like that limbo between when you first interact with someone and you’re like ‘Oh, they’re interesting’ … So it’s like that limbo period where you’re feeling stuff out with them.” – Joey Zeigler Towey, first-year
• “Texting a lot, not necessarily having defined labels on what your relationship is.” – Lucy Demsky, senior

Icks:

• “Boys with navy blue bed sheets.” – Elizabeth Papalotzi – first-year
• “Only child.” – Elizabeth Papalotzi – first-year
• “Really picky with food.” – Joey Ziegler Towey, first-year
• “Flat-brimmed hats or Monster Energy hats.” – Riley Merrigan, senior
• “Long fingernails.” – William Weinstein, sophomore
• “I’m bad at getting the ick. It’s an odd problem of mine. I need to catch it better.”  – Katherine Feng, sophomore
• “If they were in the grocery store and they pulled an apple from the bottom of the pile, then all the apples fell, and then they had to go … scrambling around the grocery store and pick them up.” – Lucy Demsky, senior

I know we just met, but what are we?:

• “Well, right now, nothing. I’m not gonna think about you after this.” – Elizabeth Papalotzi, first-year
• “Gay.” – Rachel Meyers, first-year
• “I feel a soul connection to you, so I’m gonna say we’re bonded.” – William Weinstein, sophomore