Internet
pen pal
What does pen pal mean?
A person on a dating app with whom you exchange lots of messages but who never converts the chat into a real-life date. All correspondence, no meeting.
"We've been talking for a month but he never asks me out, he's just a pen pal."
Origin
Repurposes the old term for letter-writing correspondents.
Frequently asked questions
What is a pen pal in dating?
It's a dating-app match you exchange lots of messages with but who never converts the chat into a real-life date. All correspondence, no meeting.
Where does the dating meaning of pen pal come from?
It repurposes the old term for letter-writing correspondents, since the connection stays all text and never becomes in-person.
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