Difference between dating and a relationship?

[Anonymous]

Im just wondering what the difference is. I have a guy.. we both like eachother but he says we are dating rather than in a relationship. Whats the difference? mile:

[Synaesthete]

Always a grey area.

I like to say I am "dating" someone first - taking it slowly and easy, before progressing into further commitment. Taking time to get to know each other in different scenarios/environments, rather than just jumping straight in and saying we are 100% commited to each other.

I also think that SOME people regard "dating" as being in a kind of "open relationship", whereby you can also casually date other people before making your choice. Am I wrong?

Dating might mean just meeting up once or twice a week for a meal/drink, as opposed to being in a relationship where you: spend as much time together as possible, doing everything from going on dates (meals etc), to just hanging out at each others homes, spending time with each others friends, meeting each others families, doing casual things like going shopping/clubbing, sleeping together, going away together for weekends.

[juk]

As RS says, its a grey area - many definitions!

A friend once told me that for him, at least, anything before 'I love you' is dating, anything after is a relationship.

[Genersis]

As RS says, its a grey area - many definitions!

A friend once told me that for him, at least, anything before 'I love you' is dating, anything after is a relationship.

Nice.
I'd go with this.
(Though the "I love you" HAS to be in person in my opinion.)

[SlipknotRlZZ]

You date when you just hang out, make out...you know..but then when one of the guys proposes..well, that's when the relationship starts. no big difference if you ask me, but sometimes the dating won't result in a relationship.

[princealbertofb]

Im just wondering what the difference is. I have a guy.. we both like eachother but he says we are dating rather than in a relationship. Whats the difference? mile:

Dating is actually the fact of going out with someone on a date... ie restaurant, bar, disco, cinema, whatever, or even maybe at one your the datees' homes. As such, dating someone is already a type of relationship, one which is akin to (at least) a friendship, especially if you meet several times. That's why a blind date corresponds to the meeting of two people who have no idea who the other one is. If they decide to meet again, they are probably dating. The old term for dating was actually "courting", when you found the other interesting enough to pursue some form of socialising on an emotional, sexual, romantic or other level.

The relationship to which you are referring is an emotional relationship, I'm guessing, and one in which some forms of commitment have been made. These commitments, if honoured, lead to the relationship you are mentioning (thus you can say that you are "in a relationship").

Language is strange in that there can be a slight shift in the definitions. When dating you are already in a relationship or at least in relation with someone. When the two of you have decided on some forms of exclusiveness, then I think you can call yourselves partners in a relationship. The fact of saying you are "in a relationship" also probably implies that you are not looking to form another couple with someone else, as you have found (at least for the moment) the other half of your couple. Extended to other forms of socialising, you could be in a relationship with two people at once or more, a threesome that lives together, maybe or that has commitments to the other two partners, for example... But examples of such relationships are probably rarer as society seems to impose a sort of monogamous norm. But in the seventies (for instance) when free love was more widespread, I suppose people would have said they were commited to several people at any one time.

I don't think, however, that being "in a relationship" necessarily entails having said or saying "I love you" to the partner. Some people find those words hard to utter. However lots of "relationships" seem to entail more spending of time together, doing things together, deciding things together, and often actually living under the same roof, although that sort of commitment is not necessarily one that counts. I am in a relationship with my man but we often don't live under that same roof because of circumstances mainly. I suppose you could say that being in a relationship entails a certain amount of trust, like other classical forms of relationships such as marriage.

[princealbertofb]

You date when you just hang out, make out...you know..but then when one of the guys proposes..well, that's when the relationship starts. no big difference if you ask me, but sometimes the dating won't result in a relationship.

I was "in a relationship" with my man before either of us suggested other forms of social attachments. So I don't think 'proposing' is the key, unless you mean mentioning something about being seen together as a couple?

[SlipknotRlZZ]

I was "in a relationship" with my man before either of us suggested other forms of social attachments. So I don't think 'proposing' is the key, unless you mean mentioning something about being seen together as a couple?

Well, there are all kinds of different situations, I guess, but I am talking about the way the process of two people getting together is viewed usually nowadays (NOT saying it's the right way or that we should all conform to it). And yes, being seen together as a couple is pretty important. Although what really matters should be the way the two persons feel about what they have between them.

[princealbertofb]

Agree with you, Irina...

[yugo777]

i agree with princealbertofb, dating can just mean you're going on dates and getting to know each other.

relationship is full on comitment. Although alot of people say "we're dating" and they mean theyre in a relationship.