Dating is a form of human courtship consisting of social activities done by two persons with the aim of each assessing the other's suitability as a partner in an intimate relationship or as a spouse. While the term has several senses, it usually refers to the act of meeting and engaging in some mutually agreed upon social activity in public, together, as a couple. The protocols and practices of dating, and the terms used to describe it, vary considerably from country to country. The most common sense is two people trying out a relationship and exploring whether they're compatible by going out together in public as a couple, and who may or may not yet be having sexual relations, and this period of courtship is sometimes seen as a precursor to engagement or marriage.
There are plenty of things that you forget you had to do growing up, which - frankly - should be chased out of existence for subsequent generations. When your first teeth fall out, for instance, is pretty much something out of a horror movie and I'm glad isn't a recurring incident in life - being a 40 year old on his third set of canines would just be lousy. Dating is another such awful rite of passage that is frankly barbaric and I'm really happy that whole part of my life is over now … more
"Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet Dateless and so feeling quite stressed, But Little Jack Horner was stuck in his corner, And Willie Winkie still wasn't dressed." - Gail Cooke