Relationship Woes and Advice 22: In Which Two Problems Prevent Each Others' Solution

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From what I hear loads of people go from "friends" to "best friends" to "dating" to "married with kids". So friendzoning is more of a challenge than a rejection. (Phrased that way the concept should appeal more to guys, men like challenges.)

And I've gone from friend to more than friend many times. I even described going from "friend zoned" to more than a friend in an earlier post on the topic.

If someone wants to use the loaded "friend zone" instead of the honest "I like someone who doesn't like me", they should be aware of the connotations.

Given that so many people do use it in non-negative ways, it would be better to acknowledge that there is more than such a narrow interpretation and then ascertain what the person means. Only the most vocal tend to use it in the negative ways.

Look up friend zone memes. It is everywhere.

So are pictures of cats with bad grammar. So are pictures of a guy with the caption "Woah. We have a badass over here." despite the fact that he never said that, so are soundbites and out of context quotes of many public figures. Memes often take on the most extreme or absurd example and run with it, to the exclusion of all else.

Sorry, got you mixed up with Coidzor. But that's a good example of the sort of attitude the "friend zone" is part of.

I've never said that no one would use the term to mean something negative, just like just about any term can be applied negatively.

All I can do is disagree. I can't articulate exactly what it is about the term that makes it so, though. Maybe someone else can cover it for me.

I would really like to know how a shorthand term for "due to the things I have done in the interactions I have had with him/her he/she now thinks of me as a friend and nothing more than a friend and, while it is not impossible for me to change his/her mind, it will be extremely difficult and if I'm not careful I could come off as creepy, harassing, or undesirable as even a friend" is inherently "blaming" of the other person.