evolution of "cheap date" (was: This is no sh*t.)

[David Bowie]

From:    Indigo Som <indigo at WELL.COM>

: I'm sure "cheap date" once meant exactly what Wilson says, but it's
: definitely evolved quite a bit. "Cheap date" exists for me (38 yr old
: woman) only in an ironic, *mildly* self-effacing way in discussions
: of how easy it is for oneself to get drunk. Men & women in my
: universe (mostly 30s to early 40s, various ethnicities & sexual
: orientations, mostly hyper-educated middle class) are equally likely
: to refer to themselves as cheap dates. If you get drunk easily, then
: you're a cheap date...

For me, "cheap date" doesn't have any alcohol connotations. (I don't drink,
but this observation seems to hold even among my friends who do. I'm 33yo,
most of my friends i'm talking about are somewhere in the same age range,
maybe tending to be a bit younger, and generally not as hypereducated as
Indigo Som's group.) In fact, there's no real sexual connotations to it,
either, except maybe for some very mild ones--it simply means someone who's
satisfied with non-high-class versions of dating rituals, particularly when
on the other person's dime (for example, someone who's satisfied with being
taken out to dinner at Applebee's rather than Le Bec-Fin is a cheap date).

I don't know that there's any shame (or pride) involved in calling oneself
or annother a "cheap date", except insofar as it implies (mildly) that
there's a certain lack of refinement on the part of the person being so
labeled.

<snip>

David Bowie                                         http://pmpkn.net/lx
    Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
    house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
    chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.