Rudy Yuan’s Streak oF BluE

-= POST I: OPEN RELATIONSHIP =-

As a lot of you know, “open relationship” is a choice available in Facebook (or probably some other networking sites) for relationship status.

A lot of people have been using this option while, I guess, without knowing the true meaning of it.

I think the REAL Open Relationship is pretty uncommon in Asian countries, yet lots of Asian Facebook users often opt to choose this as their relationship status.

I don’t have any prejudices towards them. Maybe they’re indeed in an open relationship… or maybe they just have the wrong idea about it.

– starting from this point, all accusations (save for facts and quotes) are strictly my opinions –

Many people, especially those of Indonesia, might consider the term “open relationship” as that they are open to or ready for new relationship, or in the process of seeking a new relationship. It’s probably like, “Duh, I’m so bored with my GF, I want to break up and find a new one”

or

“I’ve been single for so long, it’s time for me to find a relationship with someone”

It’s not entirely wrong.

But it’s wrong if they’re apparently single and opt “open relationship”.

Check the web for Open Relationship definition, like in Wikipedia.

“An open relationship is a relationship in which the participants are free to have emotional, spiritual and/or physical relationships with other partners. If the couple making this agreement are married, it is an open marriage”

and here’s another one from Urbandictionary:

“A relationship in which two people agree that they want to be together, but can’t exactly promise that they won’t see other people too. Basically, to have it all: a significant other and the freedom to hook up with other people. Common during college for many post-high school relationships.”

See?

If A and B are in an open relationship, it means that they’re in a relationship, WHILE both (or one) of them are also seeing other persons (usually for sex).

So, if you take ‘open relationship’ the wrong way, and you set it as your status, please change it before I offer myself to you. You can break someone’s heart.

But if you’re indeed in an open relationship, don’t hesitate to give me a call. I like it dirty.

-= POST II : DOWN TO EARTH =-

This is also a commonly made mistake.

Some networking profiles have people who describe themselves as DOWN TO EARTH  (I’m proud and shameless to announce that it is usually dating sites in which I participate “simply to observe” lol), of which people are usually mostly Asians.

Down to earth probably elicits a notion of humbleness, humility, modesty; as opposed to ‘up high in the heaven’, which gives the notion of pride, prominence, etc.

Despite that it really sounds so, DOWN TO EARTH does not mean that at all.

Here’s the definition of Down to Earth from Merriam-Webster:

1:practical (down–to–earth traveling tips)2:unpretentious (surprised to find the movie star so down–to–earth)

And Encarta Dictionary describes Down to Earth as practical and realistic. And its thesaurus gives “practical, realistic, sensible, matter-of-fact, pragmatic, no-nonsense”. (and fyi, nothing about humbleness)

And this is an example of down to earthness from Urban Dictionary:

Down to Earth Person: “I’m not paying $92 for that sweatshirt just because it’s designer! That’s crazy!”

(which makes me not a DOWN TO EARTH person. LOL)

So if you’re humble and want to be flagrant about it, stop using Down-to-earth to describe yourself, or worst, others.

===

I wrote this because I hope nobody would make the same mistake as I did. Cause, yes, I have also had the wrong notions about those phrases. But at least I don’t use them publicly until I find out what it means. Be down-to-earth guys!

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