|
Well if you think "dating" is complicated, you should hear about the equivalent terms for that in Portuguese...
it's all very ambiguous here. You see, there is no word for dating. There is only "namorar" which means dating, but on a more "exclusive" mindset. So if a person says do you want to "namorar" with me, it means both dating and being exclusive.
Then there is, do you want to "sair" with me. This word is like a mix between going out and dating. So when it is used, you're not quite sure whether the person is asking you on a date or wanting to hang out. Because you can say let's "sair" and it means let's go somewhere, out, like a disco, the movies, whatever.
All this linguistic mess and lack of middle ground leaves a lot of people feeling confused lol, me included.
I'd say if someone asked me to go on a date (is that what people do nowadays? How do you get asked on a date?/ end momentary thread hijack), I'd think it was just to see if we're compatible for something more lasting, but not exclusive. I would however not be amused if after several dates he told me he was seeing other women, quite naturally. In my experience I have never needed to say "let's be exclusive now" or something to that effect.
__________________
Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.
Fernando Pessoa, 1918
|