Thread: Pardon the fiction introduction, but what's it like to have an intimate relationship?

‘Did you know the internet is awash with quotations attributed to just about everyone from Cleopatra all the way through to the likes of Bogart, Monroe and Schwarzenegger? Absolutely awash. Millions and millions of words.’

‘And your point is?’

‘Can’t you see? If all those people had really been standing around declaiming all this stuff, when did they ever have time for a life? The whole thing’s a scam.’

Marissa snorted. Simon was off again, on another of his wild exaggerations.

‘So what got you going this time?’

‘Jane Fonda.’

‘Jane Fonda?’

‘She’s supposed to have said she wanted to know what it was like to have an intimate relationship. And it got me thinking. What is it like, to have an intimate relationship?’

‘You start with internet scams and in the next breath you’re onto relationships. It’s hard, keeping up with the way your mind jumps about.’

‘Actually, relationships were the main focus of my thinking. I’d googled the word, the Fonda thing came up, and I found myself saying, “Me, too.” I really would like to know.’

Intimate is one word and relationship is another.
Both together just do not make sense to me.
You can have a relationship/s.
You are intimate with somebody.
The two means very different things.
So all in all the question does not make sense put that way.
That is my opinion.

Originally Posted by Nacian

Intimate is one word and relationship is another.
Both together just do not make sense to me.
You can have a relationship/s.
You are intimate with somebody.
The two means very different things.
So all in all the question does not make sense put that way.
That is my opinion.

It’s sometimes difficult discussing something with a person for whom English is a second language. One way in which ‘intimate’ is used is as a euphemism - un euphémisme – for having sex. Another way is as an adjective – a descriptive word – showing the type of relationship, when the word means close, or the opposite of distant or remote; so ‘intimate relationship’ means ‘close relationship’.

I just got married, and it's the best. I'm sure it's different for every relationship depending on the personalities involved, but my wife and I have personalities that fit together very well. Are you ever stuck and want advice? Down and need comfort? By supplying some of these things when you're able to, you get these things supplied to you when you need them. It's a balancing factor, I guess. I've gotten down about my writing, and she'll inspire me to get back into it.

That's skipping the sex part, you know, but that part is pretty good too.

I hear Cleopatra once said, "Intimate relationships are the best! Yeyeah!"

Originally Posted by j.w.olson

I just got married, and it's the best. I'm sure it's different for every relationship depending on the personalities involved, but my wife and I have personalities that fit together very well. Are you ever stuck and want advice? Down and need comfort? By supplying some of these things when you're able to, you get these things supplied to you when you need them. It's a balancing factor, I guess. I've gotten down about my writing, and she'll inspire me to get back into it.

That's skipping the sex part, you know, but that part is pretty good too.

I hear

Cleopatra once said, "Intimate relationships are the best

! Yeyeah!"

Really?
Where did you hear that from Amber?

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

It’s sometimes difficult discussing something with a person for whom English is a second language. One way in which ‘intimate’ is used is as a euphemism - un euphémisme – for having sex. Another way is as an adjective – a descriptive word – showing the type of relationship, when the word means close, or the opposite of distant or remote; so ‘intimate relationship’ means ‘close relationship’.

The word intimate indicate SEX.
A relationship involves two people wether be it personal or casual having more than just sex or not.
You cannot in my book have a 'relationship' wtih someone based on sex only.
Sex is an act not a relationship.
Example:
Animals 'mate'. They enter an act of sex to reproduce. We do not refer to them as having a intimate relationship.
That is my opinion which differs from others.

Originally Posted by Nacian

The word intimate indicate SEX.
A relationship involves two people wether be it personal or casual having more than just sex or not.
You cannot in my book have a 'relationship' wtih someone based on sex only.
Sex is an act not a relation.

This is totally different to what you said in your first post. What you said in your first post was,

Intimate is one word and relationship is another.
Both together just do not make sense to me.

I'm sorry, but if we are to continue this relationship, I think we need an interpreter.

Nacian, let me put this another way. There are many types of relationships – working relationships, financial relationships, distant relationships, intimate relationships, non-sexual relationships, the list goes on.

“Intimate” is simply an adjective, a descriptive word, just like "working", "financial" and "distant", describing the type of relationship.

By the way, did Jane Fonda get it wrong also?

Lol OX ...I see.
The worry is, is the interpreter going to be enough do you think?

Pretty subjective material for a debate.

Originally Posted by Foxee

Pretty subjective material for a debate.

Surely all opinions on all topics are subjective.

Is that an excerpt from a piece you're writing/you've written, Ox, or did you write it to pose this question?

Now there's such thing as internet relationships - relationships where the couple might not ever even meet - Nacian's point does hold some ground. In a relationship where there is no sex, no physical closeness, even no touching, can you describe yourself as being in an 'intimate' relationship?

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

Nacian, let me put this another way. There are many types of relationships – working relationships, financial relationships, distant relationships, intimate relationships, non-sexual relationships, the list goes on.

“Intimate” is simply an adjective, a descriptive word, just like "working", "financial" and "distant", describing the type of relationship.

By the way, did Jane Fonda get it wrong also?

Jane Fonda is just another person, like you and me.
I understand the word intimate in the same way as everybody else.
Intimate involves sex.
A relationhip means two or more people involved int two or more activities which in due will become a type of a relation.
Working, Financial and Distant all involve two or more activities which may or may not include sex.
Intimate only involve ONE act and that is sex.
So for this very reasons I would not view or talk of a relationship as intimate.
It is only my opinion but of course you are in your own right to disagree.
It is as you said entirely subjective.

Nick, Nacian, ‘Nothers. We’re getting off topic. The question is, what’s it like to have an intimate relationship? Jane Fonda apparently didn't know, and my fictional character is also curious.

Btw, in the context of relationships, "intimate" doesn't necessarily mean only sex. It MIGHT mean only sex, but it can mean other things also.
Look it up if you don't believe me.

Originally Posted by The Backward OX

Nick, Nacian, ‘Nothers. We’re getting off topic. The question is, what’s it like to have an intimate relationship? Jane Fonda apparently didn't know, and my fictional character is also curious.

Btw, in the context of relationships, "intimate" doesn't necessarily mean only sex. It MIGHT mean only sex, but it can mean other things also.
Look it up if you don't believe me.

You're right, it could be a political association; like John Major and Edwina Currie or Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.