867: In which the dancing around each other resumes

[Razmoudah]

@ExPostNinja: Hmmmm......the bit about Lily is rather debatable, as she seems to be like that in regards to protecting all of her friends, although she does seem just a tad more protective of Ellen than the others, but I'm not sure it's enough to make a definite statement on.

[cleveresttitle]

her previous relationship, the one that spawned The Rule and Answering Machine Bitch

Y'know, even though the comic that introduced the latter explicitly said these were the same relationship, I totally failed to notice that until now.

[selenite]

My suspicion is that they'll spend the next strip talking about how they're not going to do anything this night, and then proceed to rut like ferrets at the first (or maybe second) pause in the conversation.

I'm with you. I figure some clumsy verbal stuff, silent looks in each other's eyes, last panel is only a couch containing a few discarded bits of clothing.

[LeftoverPoop]

In most cases, you're probably right, but there are definitely times when language doesn't evolve fast enough for one's needs. In particular: with respect to the ambiguity of the word 'like,' as in "do you like him, or do you like him?", I have long wished that there was a better word for the latter than the use of italics, or 'like-like.' Not least because neither of those work well when used in isolation, without a direct comparison to the base word.

The phrase you're looking for is "to have a crush on."

[Razmoudah]

The only problem with that is the same group of "the people" who have decided to avoid the word "love" have also started to treat the word "crush" as not implying romantic interest, and sadly that latter part has taken of spectacularly (even if the non-romantic meaning they assigned to it was very simply covered by saying "highly respect and admire" before hand, but most of "the people" have forgotten the existence and/or meaning of the words "respect" and "admire"). I think a lot of the problem comes down to the attempts to "imply what you mean without saying what you mean" by people who don't have a vocabulary that puts common dictionaries to shame.

[StumpyDaPaladin]

How about this.

Jamie and Ellen have reached the point where they will acknowledge to each other, that their interpersonal relationship has changed from room mate to live-in significant other. (they live together and they are very significant to each other. English issnt so bad... )

That's a big step. Especially for these two.

So calling it "dating" is a nice way to pretend that they are still at the stage of "feeling each other out" personality wise.

I say pretend because they have consciously or not been feeling each other out (dating if you will) since Jamie cooked for Ellen.
Sub consciously they have figured this out for themselves already. It didnt percolate up from those depths until much later
(Ellen's during the wedding prep. Jamie when Ellen 'encouraged' him to comment on her wedding appearance.)

Also by creating this fiction among themselves they (in theory) have (if one feels its too much too fast) a means of escape that can be played off with some vague platitude like

"it just didnt work out" or "it wasn't the right time "or "i didnt want to jeopardize our friend ship"

... and no one's feelings would get hurt.

A fine idea in theory. In this particular case its bullshit. Feelings will get hurt no matter what at this point. Its just a matter of who.