‘It’s an excuse to not get close to someone’: How ‘the ick’ trapped us all in perpetual dating misery
Though sharing romantic fails can make for a good story, focusing too much on a list of turn-offs could mean we miss something great
Is 'the ick' stopping us from making progress in a relationship? (Photo: Getty)
What do brown sandals, learning the harmonica and yawning at the dinner table have in common? More than you’d think, actually. According to social media, all of these things are bona fide ‘icks’. Now firmly embedded into the dating dictionary, an ‘ick’ is something minor about a person that instantly turns you off. It is an integral part of modern love, guiding us away from those that aren’t right for us and, hopefully, bringing us closer to those who are.
The internet subscribes pretty heavily to icks. Social media posts asking for people’s various icks regularly go viral — one widely shared post from September named things such as “uses emojis during a fight”, “rock climbing” and “likes craft beer” — while TikTok videos on the subject garner millions of views at a time.
