"Can I take you out for a meal"?

[RachelTopliss]

Would you find this odd? It sounds like it's come from the 70s. What's a meal anyway? It sounds creepy. Lunch or dinner maybe yes but a meal?

I said I was busy.

That's a perfectly nice way to offer a lunch or dinner. What's wrong with you?

What's wrong with being offered to be taken for a meal?

Sounds totally normal, I don’t get how it can be classed as creepy

Not creepy at all. He's saying: I'd love to take you to dinner, but if that sounds too formal, I'll settle for lunch.

I think I'd say yes.

Just from the sheer shock of someone saying what yhey actually means for a change.

I'm 45 and it sounds perfectly normal to me. Especially if he wanted you to decide for lunch or supper. I think you're the one being weird tbh.

You're weird

YABU, so he phrased it slightly awkwardly - but at least he's showing he's willing to put in some effort and take you out.

I feel in this case there are probably other issues with the guy and you're already put off, so now in your eyes everything he does is weird.

It took me a moment for it to register too. At first I thought it was a strange Scottish word😂

Anyway, you've probably already been told the poster was trying to say uncle-ish. Missed a perfect opportunity to use the word "avuncular".

I used to think I was strange for having such strong responses to words, then I came across Helen Walsh and her “shovel list” in Marian Keyes books.

I know it’s just a character in a book but I have never identified with anyone so much 😂.

It’s not like the character materialised out of nowhere, MK has said she based Helen on herself and other people, she has written a few books (some autobiographies) with similar strong aversions to words and phrases.

I now use the term “evening food” rather than saying “meal” or “dinner” l think it’s an excellent alternative.

If someone I liked asked me out using those words OP I’d probably gently tease them about it in case it was due to nerves. If they laugh along and see your point then it’s a bonus.

I had similar with an ex who said on our first date that he needed a drink because he was “completely parched”.
There was nothing really wrong with the statement and really it showed he had a good vocabulary, it just gave me the ick for no reason. I told him he sounded like my Nan when she wanted a cup of tea. We laughed about it for years and it became a running joke, I think sometimes these things are a good test because I find someone sensitive to criticism isn’t a good partner.

In my head he said it in an Uncle Bryn Welsh accent.

Or sung it as part of a Franz Ferdinand song?

You have to feel sorry for men really, they can’t do right for wrong.

yes 😅

😂

You could have said - ‘I could meet you got a spot of lunch’, as ‘take you out for a meal’ sounds like they would pick you up at your house and drive you

This question is lifted from Reddit, word for word. That’s what I find weird

you find it weird op posted the same question on Reddit? Many people here have accounts with other social media platforms so not that weird for her to post on another forum?

If you wanted to take your mum/DD/friend out as a treat how would you phrase it?

I can’t see an alternative unless you say something like dinner, which means you only want to go out at a specific time of day, instead of letting them decide and you also risk the misinterpretation of which meal is dinner etc.

Yawwwwwwn. There are many, many things in the world more deserving of your despair than this, and she is allowed to be put off by whatever she wants, so relax.

This.
What on earth is going wrong with people. Someone else posted another thread about someone saying Hello to her. Have people forgotten how to deal with polite interaction?

Exactly this.

What a ridiculous OP!

Never mind, you did him a favour.

The suggested similar post straight under this one is titled "Do you ever come home from a meal out..." Nobody replied to rudely point out how bad they sounded, and everyone seemed to understand what a meal is.

Well it certainly more polite than “can I come around for a shag?”

The guy had a lucky escape by the looks of it.