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WHAT ARE YOU doing this weekend? Spending time with your significant other? Going on a hot date?

But can you go on a “date” if you’re in a couple or does that just count as “hanging out”?

There is a school of thought that says dates are only for single people, the purpose being to get to know someone and decide whether you want to take things further.

These people would have you believe that dates require a “semblance of the unknown” to actually count as a date. In other words, if you know you’re getting the ride afterwards because you’ve actually been with the person for three years, then it’s not officially a date.

Indeed, Urban Dictionary describes a date as “two people getting together for an activity when the possibility of romance between them has been broached but not ruled out”. (Although they do point out that dates “may or may not continue” once a couple makes things official.)

Reader, we’re here to tell you that these people are wrong.

Of course couples can go on dates.

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Just because you’re in a committed relationship doesn’t mean that you’re destined to spend the rest of your days “hanging out” with someone.

Even if you’re married to someone for 35 years, there’s a clear distinction between hanging out and dates.

It’s “hanging out” if… 

• You’re watching The Late Late Show and making snarky remarks.
• You’ve ordered a takeaway because both of you were too lazy to cook or get properly dressed.
• You’re going for one in your local.
• You’ve gone for a no-frills fry in a café because you’re both hungover/can’t be arsed.
• You’re reading the papers together and only making passing remarks to one another.

It’s a date if…

• One of you was arsed to iron a shirt/dress.
• There’s a candle in your immediate vicinity.
• One of you went to the hassle of picking up the phone and making a reservation.
• It costs a lot of money.
• You have a stupid drink like a cocktail made with vermouth or a glass of red wine that wasn’t even the cheapest on the menu.
• There’s a taxi involved.
• You spend the journey home going, “Oh, that was lovely now. We’ll have to go back there again.”

Oxford Dictionaries defines date as “a social or romantic appointment or engagement”.

See?

If it’s romantic and required a degree of planning, then it’s a date, regardless of how long you’ve been seeing the person in question.

Case closed.

Oxford Dictionaries Oxford Dictionaries

Really, though — do we want to live in a world when putting on some nice clothes to eat food with someone isn’t considered a date?

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We didn’t think so.

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Agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments.

People have been sharing the text they sent to break up with their ex >

Is This A Date?