If you have recently re-entered the dating world — especially if you are dating after a divorce — the vocabulary alone can feel like learning a foreign language. Ghosting? Breadcrumbing? Situationships? These terms are not just trendy slang. They describe specific behaviors that have always existed but never had names. Understanding them helps you recognize patterns and communicate more clearly about what you are experiencing.
Communication Behaviors
Ghosting
Abruptly cutting off all communication with someone without explanation. No response to texts, no explanation, just silence. It is the most common complaint in modern dating and one of the most hurtful. If someone ghosts you, it says everything about their communication skills and nothing about your worth.
Breadcrumbing
Sending occasional, low-effort messages to keep someone interested without any intention of following through. The sporadic ‘hey, thinking of you’ text from someone who never makes plans is breadcrumbing. It keeps you on the hook while they keep their options open.
Slow Fading
A gradual version of ghosting where someone progressively takes longer to respond, makes fewer plans, and slowly becomes unavailable. It is the dating equivalent of being put on hold indefinitely — they never hang up, but they never come back on the line either.
Relationship Dynamics
Situationship
A romantic connection that has the emotional texture of a relationship but no defined commitment. You are doing relationship things — spending nights together, meeting friends, texting daily — but neither person has explicitly agreed on what this is. Situationships thrive on ambiguity and usually end in frustration for at least one person.
Love Bombing
Overwhelming someone with excessive affection, attention, and grand gestures very early in a relationship. It feels intoxicating at first but is often a major red flag that precedes controlling behavior. Genuine love builds gradually — intensity on fast-forward is usually a warning sign.
If you need a term to describe what is happening in your relationship, the term itself usually is the problem. Healthy connections rarely require a glossary.
Profile and App Behaviors
Catfishing
Creating a fake online identity to deceive someone. This can range from using outdated photos to fabricating an entire persona. It is why safety precautions like video chatting before meeting in person are so important.
Benching
Keeping someone as a backup option. You are not actively dating them, but you are not letting them go either. They are on the bench, waiting to be called into the game, while you pursue other options.
Navigating the New Vocabulary
Knowing these terms is useful, but do not let them make you cynical. For every person who ghosts, there is someone who shows up authentically. The evolution of modern dating has created new challenges, but it has also created unprecedented opportunities to find genuine connection — if you know what to look for and what to avoid.
The healthiest thing you can do in modern dating is refuse to participate in any behavior that requires a negative term to describe it.