to say that the term "date night" gives me the rage?

[DelphicOracle]

Just that really...... why is it that weve adopted this term in the last 5 years. I know its irrational - but it just grates on me. What happened to "going out", "catching up over a drink", "spending the evening together", "going out for a meal".... aarrghh.

It makes it worse the longer someone has been together..... you cant "date" your husband, youve already married him! I would suggest that if youve been with someone for more than 6 months its not really a date.

Arent dates meant to be something you do whilst not being a relationship or with someone you dont really know, but have been out with once or twice before?

Maybe Im grumpy, maybe Im old, but Im not sure when I was in my twenties (2.5 decades ago) anyone "dated". Men or Women just asked someone if they fancied a drink... or you all went out with work or a group of mates, and went home with someone you had your eye on, at the end of the night?

AIBU to say its twee, and makes me feel a bit cross .... Dont even get me started on parents taking their kids on "date nights" - not envy

YANBU, it's twee and annoying. Also 'Playdate' is just as bad

It is in the cambridge dictionary. I think it is romantic.

an occasion when two people who are married, or who have been in a relationship for a long time, go out together in the evening to enjoy themselves:
Keep your relationship alive with regular date nights!

dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/date-night

YANBU - it makes me cringe with its tweeness and suggestiveness and, oh, just everything. But then I’m a grumpy old bag.

Cohle - I agree ... I dont think you can date a man who youve been with for 20 years. Even if you werent living together, werent married, didnt have kids - you wouldnt be dating ....

as PP have said it just makes everything feel so "forced"... I find enforced fun the most off putting thing ever..... New Years Eve , Valentines day - the idea of having to do something on a specific night to show value irritates me.

DH and I can have a right laugh staying in, playing scrabble, getting a bit pissed in our PJs.... so to me the work is beyond irritating 0- but I suppose I also find the action slightly odd. Like you couldnt just go for a walk and have a good time? You have to dress up, go out, eat, drink a cocktail before you can reconnect with the person you loved enough to create life with.

I find it odd - the best nights to me are the spontaneous, unplanned nights

I am with you too OP
Total cringe. And "daddy-daughter date night" makes me want to hurt someone.
Yack.

I think you need to get a life to start a thread about such a non topic. Maybe you need a date?

Well op, from your update, then no, it's not for couples like you, because you already get lots of time together just the two of you to talk and have fun together.

For couples who without effort wouldn't get time for just them as a couple (as in, no kids or elderly relatives around), then it is a useful concept, even if you dont call it that.

Not sure how couples with small dcs and no live in childcare manage "spontaneous nights out" though...

You say:
'date night'
I hear:
'hey kids, mummy and daddy are having sex tonight!'

Vomit.

YABU

the phrase “going for a meal” is infinitely worse

MEEYYYAALLL is such a horrific word. Why not say “going out for dinner”

I suppose in the olden days it wasn't "dating" it was "courting"

Gosh yes I use date night. Its just a phrase. To me your irritation is as understandable as getting upset about "weekend" or "Fortnight" when you could say Saturday and Sunday or two weeks.
We get date nights about 3 or 4 times a year. Life is tough atm.
And I post about it on fb too!!
It really does refer to spending time together and not necessarily sex. Which I refer to my friends as shagging my husband although I havent put that on fb yet!!

We rarely have one and agree it is a ridiculous term for having an evening out. Very cringeworthy

I think some posters on here have the money to go out as and when they wish hiring baby sitters. For others it really is a big deal.

I hate it too. Bleurgh.

Yes and I also hate "gives me the rage"

@ArtisanPopcorn I was beginning to think it was just me!

It has nothing to do with 'not being able to afford to go out for dinner a lot'.

It's a cringey term whether you have 'once a week date night' or 'a rarely occurring date night'. You aren't on a 'date' you are out for dinner/having a night out. As for all the people saying 'it's where you get dressed up etc' I've seen plenty of photos of people in Nandos in scruffy everyday clothes with '#datenight' so it's not that. It's just a cringey term.

But I also hate 'dating'. It smacks of 'I am having regimented enforced fun with someone who is hedging their bets till they decide we are allowed to spend more relaxed time together at which point we will be Seeing Each Other and at some point I will be allowed to say we are in a Relationship, if I am lucky'.

I don't really think I was ever in a 'dating' scenario with my fiancé to be honest!

"And I work with my DH, hes one of my favourite people ever, we go out all the time during the day, at night, nights away by ourselves, and I have never felt the need to catagorise it as Date Night. Its just going out / eating at xx / having a laugh."

Good for you. My DH worked away. We had two disabled children. I was also a carer over the years to elderly relatives, at the end of their lives. As well as having a load of other shit thrown at us.

It would be easy to get bogged down in life.

We wanted a night off. Our date night meant not discussing real life and was about having fun.

As for 'organised fun' if we didn't coordinate work erc schedules, we wouldn't have ever seen each other.

You don't seem to like dressing up etc, but a lot of Women miss that.

I was Widowed in my 30's and I'm glad we did make the effort.

You should have got your head around people liking different things than you and it being perfectly valid, by your age.

It's not even about the money. It's the fact that we are setting special time aside for just us, no kids, no friends, no double dates, no stresses, no distractions, just flirtation and good food and sexiness !
Our kids are grown now, we dont need a sitter, but it's still wonderful when he asks, "Can I take you out Missus?"
Dont give a fig for those who are bothered, and we dont post about it on SM either, for those that care.

It’s a phrase that only exists because of social media: couple’s selfie + “Date night with this one”, followed by 20 gushing comments about what a gorgeous pair they make, don’t you two scrub up well, the inevitable ‘punching above your weight there, Pete’ bantz.

These are the same people who are ‘living their best lives’, #making-memories, like to ‘live, laugh, love’, and need some wooden letters on their bathroom windowsill to remind them of the function of the room.

Iwouldlikesomecake dating is having fun, without the serious side of life getting in the way.

Date night for married etc people is for reconnecting with each other, as individuals, rather than, Parent/Child/Sibling/Carer/job title.

It differs from going out for dinner etc, where you can still discuss RL.

Along with the word hubby, hubster 😣😣

I agree with you Op! It’s an awful Americanism. I hate the fact that they feel the need to label activities - Date Night, Film Night, daddy and daughter date etc. I even hate the term play date...... 😐

YANBU OP I detest it too. Naff, twee and coined for social media likely.

I like the teem