tell me tell me tell me I don't understand this ludicrous system definition of relationships that we have established in our society today. I need to know. I need to know what constitutes what. I would pay good money for someone to define, explain, name rules, and give examples of the following:

1. Friends with Benefits-
2. Dating -
3. A semi-serious relationship-
4. Boyfriend/ Girlfriend type relationship-
5. A serious relationship-
PLEASE PEOPLE. Help me out and respond to this one, I could use everyones knowledge on this subject....of which I know NOTHING about.

"answers from the wise"
2003-08-07 Just because i feel that i have first hand knowledge of many of the items below...i have officially qualified myself as capable of explaining the aforementioned "relationships" to you...from this point forth, including examples, the following terms should be received and interpreted as:

1. Friends with Benefits- a friendship that holds both a good capability of relation (communication) and relation(s) (messing around). Either one or both of the involved "friends" has a fear of commitment or is simply not attracted enough to the other to be fully entangled in another type of relationship. To remedy this problem, the friend that is trying to pursue a relationship would have to play the 'jealousy card', by dating another person and nonchalantly dropping this fact in front of the other person. A good example is ANY episode of Dawson's Creek.

2. Dating - often confused with its close relative, the semi-serious relationship, dating holds a very minimal ammount of investment and commitment with a possibility of great return. Much like the stock market, the less the investment, the less the return. Oh my...we're getting ahead of ourselves... Dating is the test-drive of the serious relationship. However, it must be understood that dating is dangerous and can often lead to being stranded in the eternal "friend zone", or the fatal attraction. Neither is pleasant. On occasion, it can be a direct in to the semi-serious relationship zone. For specific examples, please refer to "Blind Date", "Elimidate", "or maybe "A Dating Story".

3. A semi-serious relationship-a semi serious relationship entails more than dating, but not by much. One of the perks of the semi-serious relationship is that it is a buffer for the dating relationship and the boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. The loophole in the semi-serious relationship contract is that often times it is an unspoken exclusive relationship, but in that, being unspoken one person can be dumped at any time if in fact a better deal comes along. To avoid this, quickly advance to the boyfriend/girlfriend relationship (which will be referred to as an 'exclusive relationship' from this point forward.)

4. Boyfriend/ Girlfriend type relationship-once you have successfully reached the "exclusive relationship" the fun begins. **Caution** DO NOT BE DECEIVED the exclusive relationship may only be attained once both parties involved have formally been informed of the exclusiveness. Any humping, dry or otherwise, with another person technically constitutes 'cheating'. (For a definition on cheating, please refer to page 117 in the Websters New Collegiate Dictionary, Copyright 1998.) Going back to our Stock Market analogy, the larger the investment, the larger the gain or the loss. If you are playing a Bear market, as most of us are in the relationship world, then this is the opportunity for you. Specific points in question associated with the exclusive relationship should be noted.

1. dating other people in any form is strictly prohibited
2. dishonesty in any form will automatically result in a penalty, possibly even a demotion to a semi-serious relationship.
3. sex is not necessarily expected, and certainly not mandatory...but appreciated.
4. men are expected to violate all of the aforementioned rules, and will thus have to work even harder to avoid entrapment--dont F up!
5. Activities such as making dinner, shopping, eating out, formal activities, etc...should frequently be done together. (its the small things that matter most)
5. A serious relationship- Once you have been involved in the exclusive relationship for a long enough duration of time, you may start refering to your relationship as serious. However, if a engagement or proposal is not discussed soon after, you may forfeit all claims to said relationship.

Hope this helps!!!
love,
Ian