3 Relationship Clichés That Every College Kid Is Sick Of Hearing
At small colleges and universities all around the nation a few relationship-oriented phrases are slipping through the lips of eager onlookers. These phrases not only find a way to mark a student’s progression through her relationships, but also through her academic and college life.
As students sit in front of their screens, scanning their Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook accounts, they make a game out of finding the newest relationship statuses to categorize. It’s become so prevalent that it is not uncommon for a bright, young female to get a boyfriend, while also maintaining straight A’s, only to be told, “Oh, so that’s why you’re here,” as the speaker eyes the guy standing behind her. It’s time that we do away with these stereotypical, often false, and archaic phrases.
`1. The Freshmen Shuffle
This phrase gets thrown around every fall as the new freshman class moves into the underclassmen dorm buildings. Suddenly these newly christened college students realize that there is a whole new world out there, and the old saying “there’s always more fish in the sea” suddenly rings true. There is more fish, so many more, and these newbies think it their duty to test out as many of these new fish as possible.
There are some couples who start dating their freshman year, and they end up getting married. There are other couples who break up two weeks later. It’s true that some people date everyone on their floor in about two months’ time, but there are also a handful of students who find THE ONE. Let’s not discredit the few because of the masses.
2. MRS. Degree
If you’re a female, and you had a boyfriend at any point in your college career, this probably makes you mad. It’s pretty insulting that because you might be the least bit interested in dating, that therefore that must be all that you’re interested in doing.
A lot of girls will make a joke out of it, and some girls will admit that they do just want their MRS. Degree, but the fact is assuming that most girls want their MRS. Degree when they go to college is called stereotyping. You don’t look cool when you stereotype so just don’t assume that women don’t want an education because they want a boyfriend.
3. Ring Before Spring
Have you heard this one? If you haven’t, then you haven’t missed out on anything. Ring before spring is essentially when a couple gets engaged before the end of their senior year. For some reason it does seem like a lot of couples want to make it official (really official) before they walk down the graduation stage, but it’s not always true.
Here’s the thing: Couples should be able to pace their relationships on their own and not be ridiculed regardless of how that pacing plays out. Some couples wait to get married until they’re established and in their forties, some get married straight out of high schools, and many couples end up everywhere in between. Ring before spring works for some people. It doesn’t work for others. Let’s do away with these stereotypes. They don’t help anyone.