You See Your Crush. You Lock Eyes. You Hold Your Gaze. Then You Do the Most 2026 Thing Possible.
The headline tells the story.
Relationships
A Feast for the Eyes
A buzzy new word encapsulates a previously undefined, yet nearly universal crush.
By
David Mack
Jan 24, 202610:00 AM
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The English language is a marvelous thing. In just the past few years, we’ve been treated to the invention of words or terms that have captured new technologies or given voice to how it feels to be alive in 2026: rage bait, rizz, slop, hard pants, nepo baby, brain rot. But occasionally, new phrases arise that describe something much older—perhaps even ancient—to which no one has given a name. That’s the feeling I experienced late last year when I first encountered a word that I instantly knew no one in my bloodline had ever seen, but which they might all understand: eye-contactship. Idiotic? Certainly. Instantly relatable? Absolutely.
For me, the word first appeared in a tweet I read on Dec. 27 from Jimmy Ryan, a 23-year-old senior studying advertising at Temple University in Philadelphia. For about six months starting last summer, Ryan had been enjoying a casual but silent flirtation with a cute guy at his gym, wherein they would routinely lock eyes for a few seconds and exchange a knowing smile. Ryan enjoyed playing the long game and liked the feeling of tension building up. But one day in November, this man turned up for his workout with another man, and it soon became evident from their constant kissing between sets that they were an item. “That stung a bit,” Ryan told me. “I love seeing queer romance in public, but not with the man I wanted! So now it’s like, Shit, that’s cut off. Now he’s my ex-eye-contactship.”
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Ryan’s tweet, featuring a sad clip of Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw looking forlorn and set to “Headphones On” by Addison Rae, blew up almost instantly and has since been seen by about 12 million people. Many were taken by his use of “eye-contactship,” expressing some version of “I hope language never stops evolving” or “Twitter is full of poets.” Pleased to have finally encountered a word to describe such a situation, others vowed to immediately add it to their lexicon. Don’t believe them? Consider, then, how “situationship” (i.e., a romantic relationship between two people who are more than friends, but not yet an official couple) went from a piece of slang to a word that is now so widely used, especiall…
The headline tells the story.
Relationships
A Feast for the Eyes
A buzzy new word encapsulates a previously undefined, yet nearly universal crush.
By
David Mack
Jan 24, 202610:00 AM
Getty Images Plus
Copy Link
Share
Share
Comment
Copy Link
Share
Share
Comment
Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.
The English language is a marvelous thing. In just the past few years, we’ve been treated to the invention of words or terms that have captured new technologies or given voice to how it feels to be alive in 2026: rage bait, rizz, slop, hard pants, nepo baby, brain rot. But occasionally, new phrases arise that describe something much older—perhaps even ancient—to which no one has given a name. That’s the feeling I experienced late last year when I first encountered a word that I instantly knew no one in my bloodline had ever seen, but which they might all understand: eye-contactship. Idiotic? Certainly. Instantly relatable? Absolutely.
For me, the word first appeared in a tweet I read on Dec. 27 from Jimmy Ryan, a 23-year-old senior studying advertising at Temple University in Philadelphia. For about six months starting last summer, Ryan had been enjoying a casual but silent flirtation with a cute guy at his gym, wherein they would routinely lock eyes for a few seconds and exchange a knowing smile. Ryan enjoyed playing the long game and liked the feeling of tension building up. But one day in November, this man turned up for his workout with another man, and it soon became evident from their constant kissing between sets that they were an item. “That stung a bit,” Ryan told me. “I love seeing queer romance in public, but not with the man I wanted! So now it’s like, Shit, that’s cut off. Now he’s my ex-eye-contactship.”
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Ryan’s tweet, featuring a sad clip of Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw looking forlorn and set to “Headphones On” by Addison Rae, blew up almost instantly and has since been seen by about 12 million people. Many were taken by his use of “eye-contactship,” expressing some version of “I hope language never stops evolving” or “Twitter is full of poets.” Pleased to have finally encountered a word to describe such a situation, others vowed to immediately add it to their lexicon. Don’t believe them? Consider, then, how “situationship” (i.e., a romantic relationship between two people who are more than friends, but not yet an official couple) went from a piece of slang to a word that is now so widely used, especiall…
You See Your Crush. You Lock Eyes. You Hold Your Gaze. Then You Do the Most 2026 Thing Possible.
The headline tells the story.
Relationships
A Feast for the Eyes
A buzzy new word encapsulates a previously undefined, yet nearly universal crush.
By
David Mack
Jan 24, 202610:00 AM
Getty Images Plus
Copy Link
Share
Share
Comment
Copy Link
Share
Share
Comment
Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.
The English language is a marvelous thing. In just the past few years, we’ve been treated to the invention of words or terms that have captured new technologies or given voice to how it feels to be alive in 2026: rage bait, rizz, slop, hard pants, nepo baby, brain rot. But occasionally, new phrases arise that describe something much older—perhaps even ancient—to which no one has given a name. That’s the feeling I experienced late last year when I first encountered a word that I instantly knew no one in my bloodline had ever seen, but which they might all understand: eye-contactship. Idiotic? Certainly. Instantly relatable? Absolutely.
For me, the word first appeared in a tweet I read on Dec. 27 from Jimmy Ryan, a 23-year-old senior studying advertising at Temple University in Philadelphia. For about six months starting last summer, Ryan had been enjoying a casual but silent flirtation with a cute guy at his gym, wherein they would routinely lock eyes for a few seconds and exchange a knowing smile. Ryan enjoyed playing the long game and liked the feeling of tension building up. But one day in November, this man turned up for his workout with another man, and it soon became evident from their constant kissing between sets that they were an item. “That stung a bit,” Ryan told me. “I love seeing queer romance in public, but not with the man I wanted! So now it’s like, Shit, that’s cut off. Now he’s my ex-eye-contactship.”
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Ryan’s tweet, featuring a sad clip of Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw looking forlorn and set to “Headphones On” by Addison Rae, blew up almost instantly and has since been seen by about 12 million people. Many were taken by his use of “eye-contactship,” expressing some version of “I hope language never stops evolving” or “Twitter is full of poets.” Pleased to have finally encountered a word to describe such a situation, others vowed to immediately add it to their lexicon. Don’t believe them? Consider, then, how “situationship” (i.e., a romantic relationship between two people who are more than friends, but not yet an official couple) went from a piece of slang to a word that is now so widely used, especiall…
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