what's hanging out and what's a date?

[clint88]

One thing I have always been confused about is what is dating and what is hanging out, especially when you meet a girl from online.

 

Let's say you have been talking to a girl(dating site or no dating site) and you say “How about Saturday night, we get some dinner and then go to a coffee shop after and talk” IF she says yes, is that a date? Or just a meeting?

 

When is it offically a date? Do you have to say the word “Date” for it to be that? If you pay is that a sign that hey this is a date?

 

Say you meet a girl from a forum that's not a dating site (music, art, sports). You start to chat and you see if she would be interested in going to a movie, art show, whatever.

 

Is that a date? You didn't meet her on a dating site, so would that mean it's a meeting?

[DarlingDoll]

I always figured being asked to "go out" or "would you like to get dinner" is a date. If a guy says, "hang out" I'm thinking he means as a friend, however I'm finding a lot of guys my age (mid twenties) guys or younger like to say "hang out" to mean go on a date, and I wish they wouldn't.

[LDRohnos]

If I go out 1 on 1 with a woman and we're both single, it's a date. Otherwise chances are we wouldn't be going out together. There's plenty of grey area here at first of course, getting to know someone and such...but if the interest of going out with someone is for potential romantic reasons...it's a date. Sometimes though, only one person knows it is!

[Natasha24]

To me, it all depends on the wording.

"Do you want to meet up for coffee or something?" - not a date

"Would you like to go to dinner with me?" - a date

 

Regardless of the wording, I would never expect the first time we go out to be a "date". A date, in my opinion, is something you do with someone you like. You can't like someone you haven't hung out with before.

[Alezia]

If I met a single guy after simply chatting with them shortly on a forum (which never happened), I would automatically assume that this person has romantic intentions unless otherwise stated. If the person is same gender, or taken - I assume this is a friendship meeting. The other person may not actually want to go forward romantically if we would meet up, but if I would feel really strongly against any romantic involvement I would probably be clear with the person that I am not looking for anything more than friendship.

 

If the meet up is suggested by someone I've been acquainted or friends with for a period of time, then I assume the opposite - friendship unless otherwise stated. If the setting is rather romantic and the guy does not let me pay, then I start getting warning bells in my mind. I'd probably ask the guy what he is up to if it is repetitive.

[Batya33]

I didn't consider first meets to be dates. To me a date was when a man asked me (or I asked him) to do an activity together on a specific day, in advance. Once we were seeing each other regularly we might still call it "dates" but I'm referring to the time before you're serious.

[PrettyGood]

I would say that hanging out is just a simple time spending with each other. More friendly than intimate. And date is more wider thing when you may give each other kiss or holding hands, flirting more, but not being a couple yet.

[Alezia]

For me it's not so much about the physical aspect as to the intentions behind the meeting. If you would like to get to know each other in order to see if you would like a relationship = date. If you are simply wanting to have fun, and spend time with said person in a purely platonic manner then I consider that hanging out.