The 'talking stage' is the period at the start of a potential relationship where two people are chatting regularly — usually online — but have not yet committed to dating or made things exclusive. It can last days, weeks, or months. If your teen describes someone as their 'talking stage', they are getting to know someone romantically without a defined relationship. Harmless modern dating vocabulary, sometimes a source of anxiety because of its ambiguity.
talking stage
The early phase of a potential relationship — constant texting, maybe a couple dates — before anyone is officially boyfriend or girlfriend.
ˈtɔː.kɪŋ steɪdʒDocumented since 2010s2010sGen AlphatrendingCurrent398 viewsLast reviewed Jun 29, 2026＋ Add a definition
Etymology timeline
Born ~2018 · 2 years of recorded useSeen in the wild
BlueskyMay 2026
also the talking stage! that must be the single most stupid thing about US dating!! 😂
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Firecrawl: 'The longest relationship of my life': 10 years of dating through my ...Jan 2024
Again, savvy gen Z has coined a term for it: [the “talking stage”](https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/talking-stage), sometimes but certainly not always the precursor to a relationship, when the chief indicatio…
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Firecrawl: Dating apps try something different to keep search for love online
No awkward talking stage, no wondering if you've asked someone out too early - or left it too late.
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Firecrawl: A Love Affair That's Going Places : NPR
We haven't gotten beyond the talking stage, but we do a lot of that.
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Wikipedia: Dean Davidson
In 2010, Davidson attempted to reunite Britny Fox but did not get past the talking stage.
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Definitions
Global
+945100%
#1·Apr 24, 2026Global
The early phase of a potential relationship — constant texting, maybe a couple dates — before anyone is officially boyfriend or girlfriend. "We're in the talking stage but he still hasn't asked me out properly." Can last weeks; can also extend into months unsustainably.
See it in action
“Again, savvy gen Z has coined a term for it: [the “talking stage”](https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/talking-stage), sometimes but certainly not always the precursor to a relationship, when the chief indication of a (possibly!) mutual attraction is the constant messages blowing up your phone.”
“No awkward talking stage, no wondering if you've asked someone out too early - or left it too late.”
“We haven't gotten beyond the talking stage, but we do a lot of that.”
"We're in the talking stage but he still hasn't asked me out properly."
Origin: Dating / app-era coinage, popularized on TikTok and in lifestyle journalism, 2018–2024.
For parents
The 'talking stage' is the period at the start of a potential relationship where two people are chatting regularly — usually online — but have not yet committed to dating or made things exclusive. It can last days, weeks, or months. If your teen describes someone as their 'talking stage', they are getting to know someone romantically without a defined relationship. Harmless modern dating vocabulary, sometimes a source of anxiety because of its ambiguity.
For ESL learners
'Talking stage' is current dating English for the period at the beginning of a potential relationship in which two people communicate regularly (usually via messaging) but have not yet defined the relationship or made anything exclusive. Can last days to months. Register: informal, mainstream dating discourse. In formal English use 'getting to know each other' or 'early dating phase'. A common learner mistake is to translate it as 'just talking' (= small talk); the term specifically denotes early-romantic interaction.
Cluster: romantic_partner
Heard in the wild
“also the talking stage! that must be the single most stupid thing about US dating!! 😂”
— Bluesky· May 2026“Again, savvy gen Z has coined a term for it: [the “talking stage”](https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/talking-stage), sometimes but certainly not always the precursor to a relationship, when the chief indication of a (possibly!) mutual attraction is the constant messages blowing up your phone.”
“No awkward talking stage, no wondering if you've asked someone out too early - or left it too late.”
“We haven't gotten beyond the talking stage, but we do a lot of that.”
“In 2010, Davidson attempted to reunite Britny Fox but did not get past the talking stage.”
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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💘About Relationships & Dating slang
How people talk about dating apps, modern romance, and the situationships they swear they're over — from ghosting and breadcrumbing to soft-launching, hard-launching, and the ick.
See all Relationships & Dating slang on Slangora.
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Other words near "talking stage" (T)
taksaltalabtalavTaliatalk attalk cocktalking sticktalk out of one's asstalk shitetalk the legs off a pottalk to the handTall Blacks
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(text messaging) talk.
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A romantic connection that's real but kept deliberately quiet — not secret exactly, just not announced or performed for an audience. The low key boo is the person you're consistently seeing, texting daily, and probably catching feelings for, but you're not ready (or not choosing) to make it a whole social media thing. It's a relationship that lives in the private layer of your life: real enough to matter, undisclosed enough to stay low pressure. The low key boo situation often exists in the sweet spot between 'just talking' and 'officially together.'