[nights] Well I hope so, seeing as he's my boyfriend now. Hurrah!

There's a sticker on my door proclaiming "Blood donors love life" which somehow feels like the opposite of a grocer's apo'strophe.

[rab] careful, you're drifting into grammar pedant territory, and I know enough of them by fortune of being a languages student.

[ZK] Oh I am pleased. Good for you!

[ZK] I think I might have one too... how many dates does it take to qualify?

[pen] Based on negligible experience, I think "boyfriend" is what you call it when:

• ...you stop counting dates.
• ...the next date is "when", not "if".
• ...you start counting days/weeks/months since the first date.
• ...you stop calling it "dating" and start calling it "seeing".

The state of boy/girlfriendshipness must be formally announced, ideally through a public advertisment in The Times, but these days more commonly on the official web-based boards set up for this purpose.

I always understood the situation to become officially acknowledged when, and only when, you were finally caught out behind the bike shed. Or adult equivalent, I suppose, in this case.