For a large chunk of history, human mating was a matter of couple forming with family approval. In small communities, young people all knew each other growing up, as did their parents. As communities grew larger and people traveled, some cultures turned to professional matchmakers, and the upper classes and royalty arranged marriages for political or financial reasons. In America, young people got to know each other through "courting," which consisted of a young man visiting a young woman's family home, trying to impress her and her parents as well.
That changed in the 1920s, as more people had automobiles and places to go for amusement. "Dating" replaced "courting," although the origin of the word dating is more salacious than you ever knew. The custom of dating went through changes in both meaning and procedure through the rest of the 20th century, and is done quite differently in the internet age. Hey, it was easy to meet people in high school; not so much these days when careers are far from one's hometown and marriage is put off until years after graduation. Read up on how dating started and where it then went at Jstor Daily. -via Strange Company
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I swear that picture looks like seconds from a disaster.
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