Brooke,
I would say it's a semantic word game. I think that the distinction is certainly one of intimacy, trust, and all that good stuff. As far as describing touching hands in the popcorn as "making love," I would have to say it's going to end up being a personal choice of vocabulary. You'll be telling your girl friends "I felt the heavens move when our legs brushed beneath the table, and our eyes locked for what felt like an eternity of soul-exchanging bliss....it was the Rapture" and your Andrew Dice Clay Ape-Man Neandrathal boyfriend (who plays the lute and quotes Shakespeare) will be telling his drinking buddies "I don't know. Our legs kind of touched beneath the table. I had to take a leak and sort of popped a half-master. She was staring at me like she knew. Do y'all think she knew? Did she care? Damn, that was some funny shit...."
Or maybe not,
