Pandating: coronavirus and the language of love

When it comes to relationships, coronavirus has changed everything from courtship to cohabitation: enter a new language of love to cover dating, dumping and divorce. Has a friend told you about their evening spent engaged in “coronalingus” just as you were recovering from a brutal “zumping”? Maybe you know a devoted “Cuomosexual”. If you want to find love in a lengthy lockdown, or simply preserve your wilting relationship, it can help to learn the lingo.


ドライブスルーお見合い (doraibusurū o miai)

Drive-through matchmaking (noun)

The Japanese road to love

Before the pandemic, Japanese singles on the hunt for a spouse would often trade flirtatious glances at parties and other events set up by dating agencies. The coronavirus outbreak has put a damper on face-to-face rendezvous, but not on lonely hearts’ determination to find love. Now that mass gatherings risk contagion, businesses are adapting. A number of matchmaking firms are seeing a spike in interest from people eager to tie the knot and are connecting couples via online omiai (matchmaking) sessions: singletons chat and assess their compatibility via computer screens – sometimes while engaging in on-nomi (online drinking).