THIRDRAFT

Scientific evolution changes how each upcoming generation adapts to its environment, and the world around them. For Generation Z, it took developing a whole new vocabulary for dating in today’s age. This consists of a lot of new terms, such as Situationships, Benching, Ghosting, Breadcrumbing, rizz, beige flag and many more. But one might question- are these terms just for fun, or they making our love lives more complicated than they have to be? 

Sneha Jain is a 21-year-old student at Delhi University Miranda House, Delhi, pursuing English Honours. She remarked, “These are just words for our generation to explain situations with more openness, and clarity. These situations used to happen before also, but there were no specific words for it. I have definitely included these words in my dictionary- especially when I have to spill the tea with my friends!”

Love used to be simple. You like someone, you date them and life felt like a Karan Johar movie. You either marry them or cry over sad songs. But in 2025? it’s not that easy. Now, even before you talk, your ‘rizz’ is tested- it’s like giving board exams again!  Even after passing the test, you don’t just date—you talk, situationship, bench, or, worst of all, get ghosted.

Manya Goel is a 20-year-old student at Delhi University pursuing Bachelor of Arts. She sounded quite far away from these slangs and said she didn’t understand them. It made things more complicated for her. “We basically need to accept the fact that our generation has commitment issues, and we have made up words just to avoid putting labels on our relationships and not being clear about things,” said Manya. She shared a personal story about how she had to deal with a guy treating her as his girlfriend, but refused to give a label and call it an actual relationship instead of a situationship.

Dating apps have added fuel to this fire- now it’s normal to just ‘explore’ options. Having options was about finding the right one, not having talking stages with 5 people at the same time! The fancy word ‘benching’ is basically the inability to commit to one person. But well, Gen Z is chill in that way.

Nityapriya Chadha, a 19-year-old student at Pearl Academy, Delhi pursuing Fashion Communication, shared her opinion that our generation has a habit of making everything more complicated than it has to be. According to her, if you love someone or want to be with someone, just be clear about that and not make up words for drama and gossip. “We have found out ways to destroy something pure and what is a part of life,” said Nitya.

Gen Z themselves have their thoughts and opinions on these new words, but with social media, this dictionary is growing by the minute- looks like the Oxford one is gonna be left behind. Also, Now Gen Alpha has entered the chat, let’s wait and watch what they come up with!