A person in their young 20s recently told me their SO broke up with them via text.
Certainly not the end of the world, but to this 50+ yr old, the idea of breaking up via text just impressed me as majorly bush. Similar to (in my day) leaving a message on a phone machine.
Are there any circumstances underwhich a text breakup is not chickenshit?
FWIW, both parties live in the same medium-sized town - within walking distance of each other. There had been no single event causing the breakup. It was likely that in a couple of months one of the two would move some distance away. They’d been going out for maybe 5-6 months, seeing each other exclusively and quite regularly.
I agree you have to be a chickenshit to break up via text. Of course, it seems Facebook breakups are all the rage these days. In any case, if one looks at it objectively, why is it really a problem? If anything, it should make the breakup-ee feel better that he/she isn’t with such a coward.
While I don’t support text break-ups, relationships nowadays seem to be filled with a lot more insecurities than in the past (no cites, feel free to disagree); it’s usually a result of the breakee thinking that (s)he’s doing both of them a favour because “my SO probably doesn’t want to see my face anyways.” That, and they don’t want to deal with the backlash, so yeah I guess that still makes it cowardly by definition.
So what are you going to tell people who do such a thing? Grow a pair?
…‘bush’? From context, I’m guessing it means something like ‘cowardly’ or ‘asshole-ish’. I need to know the location and decade where that originated! Never heard it before.
“Bush” as in “bush league,” a term from baseball. It refers to teams from small rural towns where the standard of play isn’t up to that of major league baseball. So it can mean unsophisticated, crude, or below expectations.
Huh. Never heard the term either. LOL’d at “phone machine” though.
Breakups via text are fine if you haven’t been seeing each other for long, aren’t exclusive, etc. IMHO. However, there’s no distinct line between fine and not-fine, since everyone forms their own opinions about how much a relationship means, so what’s totally OK … errr, bush … for one couple would be a massive misstep for another.
I remember when Phil Collins, the singer/drummer in Genesis, told his wife that he was divorcing her with a fax. Technology sure has gotten better. People, on the other hand, are still asses.
Thanks for the responses. Just trying to figure out what folk consider appropriate interaction today. Wondered if this qualified the one party as a “bad breaker upper.”
Glad to amuse the whippersnappers with my use of archaic terminology, and references to stoneage technology.
Pretty chickenshit. If it’s someone you’ve gone on a few dates with, you can tell them via text that you’re not interested, but that’s lame if you’ve been dating for a few months. Weak.
I’ve never heard the term “bush” used in that context either. I’ve heard “bush league”, but thought of that as meaning inferior or not up to standard. And breakup by text is tacky.
I’ve often used and heard use bush as synonymous with “bad form”. But, bush can also be used to signify different connotations - amateurish, subpar, and others.
I think it depends on the circumstances; in my case it would have been preferable. I had to drive all the way out to my now ex-girlfriend’s only to have her tell me she was breaking up with me (which I knew), then drive all the way back.
I was about to chide myself for being completely ignorant of the latest slang. But now I’m going to chide the OP for assuming we would know precisely what he meant.
I’ve was dumped via text last year. And I am in my 40s.
It was the primary form of communication between us. That’s how we set our first date. It was how we decided we were exclusive. It felt a bit impersonal, but honestly seemed natural given the relationship. I can’t imagine ever doing it that way myself. But I won’t complain to much about it either.
I just broke up with someone via text, about 5 minutes ago. Granted, we had only been dating for about 6 weeks or so but it was a break-up nonetheless. In this case though, a lot of our not-in-person communication was in text-form, so this was just more of the same. It was at the end of a rather lengthy text conversation.
