Call It A Date, Dammit

Call It A Date, Dammit

One of the biggest mistakes a man makes after meeting a woman in real life is when he retreats on the nomenclature of dating. I’m often surprised that even the most confident of men refuse to call a date a “date”. Once a man has established and determined mutual attraction with a dame and he wants to see more of this woman, it’s his moral obligation to escalate to a real future date, not some other meeting where the two are simply hanging out together without any romantic expectations.

Here are some common phrases spoken by a man who is attempting to escalate to a date.  He is screwing things up with such phrases. My comments are in italics.

“We should get together sometime.”

Guys, the conditional “should” is weak and spineless and therefore unacceptable. As well, “get together” is meaningless. There is no expectation of romance.

“Let’s have drinks next week.”

This is better because it’s much more declarative. But where’s the romance? Imply romance, get romance. (Yeah, we know I am talking about, wink wink, nudge nudge)

“[Rock band] is playing next week, want to go?”

NO! I wrote about this.

“Are you free sometime?”

Never, ever end with a question. Confident men make statements and assume the date will already happen.

“Can I get your number?”

Again with the question…oy vey. Also, why would she give the phone number? She has no motivation because there is no future context such as a real date.

In my own life, my most recent date was secured by being firm with the nomenclature. I was out in the village walking my dog and I spied a blond sitting at the outside bar at a local restaurant. There was a vacant seat next to her. I sat down next to her and proceeded accordingly.  Laughs were had, drinks were shared, and a fine conversation occurred. Sure enough, there was quite a bit of mutual attraction.

At some point, I told blondie straight out “I’m really liking this, we’re going to have date.” I looked her straight in the eyes.

“We could hang out, that would be fun” she responded.

After all my practice and failing too many times, I knew the proper response here.

“No, we’re going to have a real date, I’ll take care of everything. It will be something simple.”

The blonde smiled. “OK, a date. I haven’t been on a real date in a long time.”

“That’s because most men don’t know how this works.” Yeah, that was my boasting and it sealed the deal.

Phone numbers were exchanged. Some texting happened before that date so as to avoid the flake factor. The actual date went smoothly and we had lots of fun. We’ve seen each other several times since then and we continue to enjoy each other’s company on real dates. Blondie now laughs comfortably when I tell her we’re going to have another date.

I certainly acknowledge that it puts a woman on the spot when a man sticks to his guns regarding the word “date”. I say good for the man who does this. The willingness to make a woman feel slightly uncomfortable is a major statement of masculine confidence. If she won’t go along with the “date” concept and only wants to get together in another context, the man shouldn’t accept that and simply stop trying for a date.

Regarding the post-divorce crowd, I’m surprised that there is so much resistance to using the correct vocabulary about dating. It’s understandable that we try to avoid romantic expectations because there is the risk of romantic rejection. But if either the man or the woman is unwilling to take that risk, that person is not ready for dating.