Situationship: Neologism

Neologism is a newly-created word used in expressions, in both writing and speaking. However, all neologisms are not entirely new. Some neologisms are built from new uses of old words, while others are combinations of new and old words. Sometimes, neologism will not appear in any dictionary. However, they can be used widely within certain communities. It may be possible to find many facts about the neologism and show evidence of its use on the Internet or even in the larger society.

I find the neologism “Situationship” as very interesting and very new, nevertheless, very authentic to the modern lifestyle. The earliest example of using this word is from January 23, 2006 on the website of Urban Dictionary with an explanation: “Situationship – any problematic relationship characterized by one or more unresolved, interpersonal conflicts, usually confused with dating.”

The given example is: “It’s time you ended this Situationship, dumped his sorry ass and found a guy who you’re actually happy to be around”. However, the top definition of the word Situationship given by Urban Dictionary dates from April 05, 2014 is: “Situationship – A relationship that has no label on it … like a friendship but more than a friendship but not quite a relationship”. The given example is:

“Me: Me and this guy have been talking for six months now.

Friend: Are you guys together?

Me: It’s like we are together but we are not…it’s more of Situationship that’s happening.”

Explanations about the word “Situationship” cannot be found yet in more serious and respected dictionaries.Wordspy.com defines the etymology of this word as a compound word of two words situation + relationship.

In the article “Is the “Situationship” Ruining Modern Romance?” published in the Cosmopolitan.com on May 01, 2017, the author Carina Hsieh defines Situationship as a hookup with emotional benefits. She gives an example of her relationship with a boy in college in which they did “things for grown-ups” but they titled each other as a “crush”. Situationship can last months, or even years and often girls find themselves feeling stupid for crying over the boyfriend they could not even call a boyfriend.

According to the article “7 Ways to Tell if Yours is a Situationship” published on the Daily Nation website, on August 16, 2014, the author Joan Thatian, explains that it may feel like a real relationship but a woman will always question herself and her worth, and at the end there will be a heartbreak. A 29-year-old lawyer, Olive, draws from her experience: “When you begin wondering about your position in his life when you begin asking him questions about where your relationship is headed, pay attention. Ambiguity regarding your relationship status is the most basic sign that you are in the situationship.”

Aidan Neal, the blogger, in her article “9 Signs You’re in A Situationship” defines situationship as a pseudo-relationship where you do not have a title, your main means for communication is texting, your closest friends have not purposely met, there are no pictures of you in any public setting, you are living that “vampire” life when most of the time you have spent together is in a private setting and mostly at night.

Gone are the days when dating was predictable and straightforward. New age relationships have evolved and are unfortunately bundled up with insecurity and laced with lust. Going by the new dating rules, people construct new kinds of relationships. Fear of commitment makes things worse and puts people in situations that are new and hard to explain or even gives them a name. These conditions make us sense the gap in the language and to feel that a word is missing. We need a name for the new existent circumstances, and that is how we invent a new word. In this way the word “situationship” is invented and put in use, by people for the people, to be possible to describe and understand new and awkward combinations that two people fall into.