It evolved naturally, as far as I can tell. It was originally like any other excuse, but someone used it as an innuendo, and then that went viral, so other people started using it. The more you use it, the more that just becomes the meaning.
As for why people needed an excuse in the first place? Mores may be relaxed, but it still seems you don’t often directly ask for sex. The pretense is still used, so that either side can pretend they really just wanted to watch movies, particularly if they get turned down.
At least, so it seems to me. I’m not exactly a Yoof anymore myself.
There was a bit of media coverage last year in Australia when during a radio interview our Prime Minister was asked whether he and his wife ever Netflix and Chilled, and he enthusiastically answered in the affirmative, being unaware of the euphemism.
It’s more than just that. “Do you want to have sex?” suggests that someone literally just wants to have sex and doesn’t much care about who it is with, and you’d best come in, do the deed, and leave quickly without any expectation of conversation or tenderness. Even in a friends-with-benefits situation, that’s insulting.
An analogy:
Taylor and Jordan are friends. They hang out in a variety of circumstances. There is a good deal of low-key mutual admiration, or at least approval. Jordan has an Xbox. Taylor does not. Taylor does like to play Xbox, a great deal. He’d like it with anyone, but he’d certainly rather play it with Jordan than with some random person: it’s more fun with a friend, and Jordan is cool. When Taylor hangs out at Jordan’s house, it’s inevitable that they will play Xbox. In fact, when Taylor suggests hanging out at Jordan’s house instead of the two of them coming to his house, or going to a bar or the gym or some of the other things they do together, it’s pretty damn clear that part of his thinking is that it would be cool to play Xbox together, and Jordan understands that if Taylor comes over, that’s what they will likely end up doing. But he doesn’t mind because they are friends and they share a lot of things and, most importantly, he likes playing Xbox with Taylor way more than playing it alone.
Even though there’s nothing illicit or anything about Xbox, if Taylor called Jordan and said “Hey, can I play Xbox at your house tonight?”, it would make him sound like a dick. It would give the impression that Xbox is the main draw, and that Taylor is just a guy who owns one. Taylor can’t respond “I’m not in the mood for Xbox, let’s go play basketball” because the nature of Jordan’s offer has made it clear that he’s looking for Xbox, not to spend time with Jordan, and that if Jordan isn’t in the mood for Xbox, Taylor will call someone else who might be. But if Taylor says 'Hey, dude, want to hang out tonight? I was thinking your place", it sounds like a friend making a suggestion, not just a mercenary desire to get to play with his toys.
What are the hip and trendy words of 2018? What word or phrase might one of us geezers be posting about in 2020, asking what they mean?
Also serious: aside from Urban Dictionary, is there a semi-reliable online compilation of this stuff? I understand that such a compilation would at best be a few months behind … but it would still be interesting and helpful.
Is Know Your Memes only for pictures and videos, or does it also cover viral words/phrases?
Now I’m wondering what the dates are of their very newest meme entries. Did anything go from “unknown” to “everyone says that!”, say, since Thanksgiving?
