Last night my roommate announced he was going on a date tonight. After I asked him all the gossipy roommate questions (where, who, how'd you meet her, etc.) he started to qualify the date. "Well, it's not really a date... I mean... We're just going to meet for a drink after work..." I insisted that it was indeed a date. He said it was something called a "preliminary date, before the real date." I insisted it was in fact a first date. Our weird warring-broken-records conversation went on for awhile and I finally conceded that perhaps I have a looser definition of date. (After all, I call my weekly Scrabble night a Scrabble Date, or a scheduled hike a Hiking Date, or coffee with my friends a Coffee Date. In fact, me and my bff often throw around the phrase "friend date".)
But here's where it gets interesting. About fifteen minutes later I'm on the phone catching up with Andrew when he tells me about a date that he went on last week. And the same thing happens! After calling it a date and describing it to me (it was definitely a date!), he then gets cold feet and says it was more like a "pre-date". First it's a date, but under scrutiny it turns into, what, a lesser type of date? I started laughing and told Andrew to hold on while I hollered into that "Hey! Andrew goes on pre-dates too!"
So, weird coincidence aside, what is this all about? I suppose it's all semantics, but in my book the first date you go on with someone is called a first date. The second date is called a second date. All subsequent dates are called dates. I will admit that there are different types of first dates: The kind you are really excited about, and the kind you are going on to find out if you would be excited about dating the person in the future.
And so I can only assume the "preliminary date" is a specialized term to describe a first date when you don't have any idea what to expect. Still, if it goes well and you go out again, is it right to call the second date a first date? No! Never!
Anyway, I understand that I need to grow my vocabulary to get around this social reality. So, if one is first, two is second, and so on, what is the equivalent word for "point five" (as in a 0.5 )? Would that be a halved date?