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The dating market is becoming increasingly demanding of its participants. We can’t text back right away in fear of looking desperate (“I don’t want him to think I’m alllllways available”). Are we friends with benefits or just prolonging a bad match with good sex? And now, we need a dictionary for all the tech-jargon that people use on dating apps.

Luckily for you, I study this stuff and I’m here to break down 2018’s most memorable additions to the modern dater’s lexicon. Let’s start reading:

CURVING

To reject someone in a very subtle, usually protracted way (e.g., “He says he wants to hang out but always has a convenient excuse to get out of it”).

DTR CONVERSATION

Pretty self-explanatory, DTR stands for “define the relationship”. Some of us just call it “the talk,” but hipsters love acronyms, so DTR it is.

GHOSTING

Are you even a Millennial if you haven’t been ghosted? Ghosting is shorthand for suddenly dropping out of someone’s life—like entirely—without a warning or excuse as to why. (Hint: he’s over you.)

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