Dating is a minefield at the best of times, but this has only been amplified during the pandemic.
While we may still be in lockdown, unable to go on any physical dates, we’re still being ghosted (left on read), stashed (never meeting their loved ones) and submarined (when they suddenly cut all possible ties).
Luckily for us, there’s a new dating term on the horizon with a truly terrible name: roaching.
Coined by AskMen, roaching is when a new partner hides the fact that they are still sleeping around with other people, generally something that may happen early on in the relationship.
What is Roaching?
Roaching will likely happen before you have the ‘talk’. You know, the one where you decide to be ‘exclusive’ – not yet a proper couple but not seeing anyone else.
If, during that talk, you find out your lover has been sleeping with others at the same time without telling you then you, my friend, have been roached.
As its moniker suggests, roaching comes from the theory that when you see one cockroach, there’s a lot more cockroaches that you don’t see. Charming, isn’t it?
While roaching isn’t too possible right now thanks to social distancing regulations, you might still be talking to someone, thinking you’re the only one they are talking to, and you find out they have a bunch of other chats on the go.
There is still hope for dating in 2021, however. Dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and OkCupid have reported an uptick in their users mentioning the words ‘vaccine’ and ‘vaccinated’ – and with 15 million people in the UK already having had their first vaccination, we could be back to dating IRL again very soon.
