Lexicon ·
freckling
noun, also verb (to freckle), with the freckler as its agent
- Stated meaning
- A summer romance with someone who disappears in the colder months and comes back when the weather turns.
- Operating meaning
- A seasonal contract, taken up each summer and lapsed each autumn by the same party, with the other carried as inventory between seasons.
- Origin
- Proposed by the men's site AskMen in June 2018, after freckles that come out in the sun and fade in the fall. PinkNews carried it within the week.
AskMen (opens in a new window) proposed the word in June 2018 and said so: “AskMen is proposing the adoption of a new slang term into our collective dating lexicon – freckling.” The freckler is “someone who dips into your life when the weather’s nice and then vanishes,” and the article was precise about the vanishing. The freckler is “not staying, but not exactly leaving, either, just going dark for the colder months, potentially cuffed with someone else entirely.” PinkNews (opens in a new window) carried it on June 20, 2018, crediting the site.
The calendar already had the other half. AskMen built the word as cuffing season’s counterpart, and the article’s own phrase joins them: the freckler goes dark in the fall “potentially cuffed.” Between the 2 words the year is fully let, with a winter arrangement and a summer one, and each party can hold both.
Under load, freckling is a seasonal contract with an automatic renewal held by one side. The freckler takes it up when the weather turns and lets it lapse when it turns back. The other party is carried between seasons as inventory, kept on hand at no cost to the holder and not counted as a commitment by either. The renewal date is set by the weather, which is the one party to the arrangement that never gives notice.