Those of us who've been single into our mid to late-twenties know about this phenomenon. The Psuedo-boyfriend/girlfriend is the person of the opposite sex with which you have no romantic involvement, but you end up doing the things that couples do together on a more than regular basis.
My friend, Carly, is mine. A few months ago, we laughed as we went shopping for our friend, Lana's, baby shower gift together. There we were, on a Sunday, going to Target, looking up gift registries, buying presents and cards, and then going to a baby shower together. It was such a couply thing to do.
Carly's and my psuedo-relationship (is that grammatically correct? I spent a couple of minutes mulling it over and I think "Carly's and my" is correct) took a jump to a whole new level this week, as a result of the baby shower. We got mail addressed to the both of us. It was a thank you note from Lana, addressed to the both of us.
Seriously, we might as well just start dating for real.
Incidentally, as of yesterday evening, Lana and Chad are new parents, and Lori is a new Aunt. Congratulations to all!!!!
So, what you're talking about is a friend with benefits... without the benefits. So... a friend, then.
Posted by: Amber | July 17, 2005 at 02:33 PM
Sorta... it kinda inhabits that space between "just friends" and "friends with benefits."
To be sure, there are no "benefits" as such, in this particular relationship, but we are basically each other's standby, who does all the couply stuff with each other without doing "all the couply stuff with each other."
Posted by: Dylan | July 17, 2005 at 03:11 PM
You are rockin' the quotation marks in that comment! w00t!
Posted by: Amber | July 17, 2005 at 04:39 PM
I'm totally gonna start using "rockin' the quotation marks" as a euphemism from now on.
Posted by: Dylan | July 17, 2005 at 04:59 PM
Hmmm...do you realize that when I was making the calls to say "Lana's in labor" and I got to you and Carly on the list, I called Carly and left the message and said "Could you please let Dylan know?" Time was short and I knew that, well, talking to Carly was synonymous with talking to Dylan. So, I'd fulfilled my obligation of letting "Dylan and Carly" know. You guys really are like a couple that's not a couple.
Posted by: Lori | July 17, 2005 at 05:22 PM
I think it's sweet. And there are other benefits than just "benefits." Hooray for boys who can be friends with girls. Shucks...
Posted by: Megarita | July 17, 2005 at 08:08 PM
Posted by: Amber | July 18, 2005 at 07:52 AM
"Carly's and my psuedo-relationship"
First, English (and especially American English) is fair game. If you said something that makes sense and someone complains you are allowed to punch them in the face for being a prick. Second, I dunno. Would you say
Jack's and Jill's car is..
or
Jack and Jill's car is..
So I might go with
Me and Carly's car is..
or just avoid it all with
Our car is...
But the first rule stands, as long as you don't sound like a hick throttle anyone who complains because they need to be taken down a peg. Kelsey Grammer complaining about the proper (foreign) pronunciations of single words on the Tonight Show comes to mind. I can speak French but I still say single words stolen from french the English way. O-maj (Homm-idge) my ass. Multiword sayings lifted wholesale can be done like the original language. If we had to pronounce every individual word like they sound like in the language we stole them from we would all sound like jibbering idiots.
Posted by: Jack Diederich | July 19, 2005 at 12:00 AM
Sure, but still... don't you find a comfort in making sure you are grammatically correct? I'm not anal about it (obviously) but it's sometimes just a good feeling, like you've kinda mastered a little bit of something, no?
Maybe I need to find a hobby.
Posted by: Dylan | July 19, 2005 at 12:23 AM
That was awesome.
Posted by: Amber | July 19, 2005 at 09:36 AM