What does the term "hooking up" mean to you? (Those under 25 only, please!)

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I don't use the term, it's confusing to me. I had always assumed it meant some kind of genital sex until a friend mentioned hooking up (making out) with someone.

..Especially when it's done with a third party's help. When I hear that, say, "Mary and Max hooked up", I always feel the implication that someone "hooked them up".

A hilarious fact: "hooking up" meant "catching The Plague" in the 17th Century.

...because it kind of emcompasses all of the above. Sometimes I'll say "let's hook up" to mean "let's hang out," or if I say I hooked up with someone it could mean anything on the spectrum from kissing to intercourse (and beyond?).

i must agree because hooking up does mean so many different things to different people, and i see it as just kissing or making out, so when anyone says 'oh i hooked up last night' i actually have to ask what they mean by hooked up and so many people really do have different meanings for it especially one of my friends is like 'oh it means i had sex with a random' and i was like what the?. like hooking up can also just to me mean meeting a friend somewhere when ur both out like 'im hooking up with so and so later on because i havent seen them in a while'

I said it was hanging-out, but it can also mean going out on a date, at least in my circle of friends

I said it was making out as it is the closest. At my school hooking up is when you kiss with tounges, making out is when hands are involved. But its always different for people from other schools. It can be confusing.

Actually, when my friend talked to me and my future bf and told each other that we liked each other therefore leading to getting us together, she said that she 'hooked us up'.......so that means, get two people together.
But then people also say it as though hooking up is randomly making out.
I had always thought it meant when you have sex with someone that you aren't dating, and sometimes don't even know.
IT'S SO CONFUSING!

In my school when we say "hook up" we mean when people r dating, as in "hanna and shaun have officially hooked up"
But kissing is "make out", and sex is "did it," or "slept together."
Pretty complicated, except the last part.

I find that "hooking up" has a different meaning in college than it does in high school. In high school it referred predominantly to making out and occasionally to genital touching; very rarely did it refer to oral sex or intercourse. However, in college it refers to all of those things, and when "hooking up" is mentioned most people assume it involved oral sex as a minimum. Making out is simply kissing; "hooking up" involves going beyond that.

On the east coast people usually use the term "hooking up" to mean any type of sexual encounter from a little french kissing to PIV sex. On the west coast it is largely only used to mean sex. This is definitely a generalization as some New Yorkers (for instance) use it to mean simply going on a date. When I hear the term used I usually just make an assumption based on who the person is.

I'm a sophmoe, and i generally thought hooking up meant to have sex. When I was talking to my senior friend she mentioned hookingup with someone and i felt kinda uncomfortable, but then she mentioned that she didn't plan to have sex till after she left high school.

So i honestly think its a rather ambiguous term that means what ever the person using it decides it means.

I call for an official definition. Here here!

In england as far as I know we use to to describe causal sex with someone. If you've kissed the person then you just say that, the same as going out with someone.

I recently realised i use the term to mean 5 different things:

making out, casual sex (including intercourse/oral/whatever), buying drugs, meeting up with friends (especially on a night out) and connecting two computers or devices.

SO MUCH CONFUSION!

My common usage is somewhere between making out, going on a date, and sex-type things. It usually depends on the context or person. If someone else uses it I always ask for specifics. If I use it in reference to myself it usually means making out and cuddling; if I use it in reference to someone else it might mean anything on that list.

In my social circle hooking up was and remains a vague term for people to circumvent discussing the intimate details of ANY sexual encounter: casual, with a long or short term partner, etc. It was used as a viel of discretion

I've always used it as a vague blanket term for any heavy kissing and beyond. I use the term a lot and will almost always use it over sex. I feel that sex often has the connotation of penile insertion, which I find limiting. I use hooking to mean that plus any other physical experience from which I gain sexually stimulated pleasure.

I use it both with causal and serious relationships, though in slightly different ways. When in a causal situation: Jane and are just hooking up or When Jane and I were hooking up... While I would only use the later for a more serious relationship. So, it can be a type of relationship and/or an act within a relationship.

i think its a sexual thing that isnt based on love,for example if people who were fwb got together hung out and madeout hardcore or further that would be a hook up. if some chick kisses her boyfriend that is not a hook up.

when two people get together and do any kind of sexual act (kissing-intercourse) for a brief amount of time. they could be in a relationship or not.

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