Do you still use the term “make love”?

Like was it hip? Hey baby you wanna make love tonight?

Was it a term for bashful fraus?

Was this when it started?

Because we had not yet embraced - I’m going to breed you - nomenclature.

OP, no real person has said that term since 1975.

railed

While he’s making love, I’m making believe

I think it’s kind of sweet. Same with lovemaking. I would never use either and would be turned off if someone asked me to make love. But for a cute older couple it works.

“Sleeping with” as a euphemism for having sex makes my skin crawl.

Ok Venus O’Hara is explaining the difference for me.

But we JUST MADE LOVE!

I remember a really weird girl in graduate school in the mid 90s who always acted very prim but whom everyone knew was very slutty describing to me that another guy in our program "made love to [her]" on her sofa earlier that week. I almost burst out laughing because it was so prissy--I hadn;t heard anyone actually use that term in real life before except for health teachers in middle school.

Making Love out of Nothing at all!

My husband does, but he is a musician, and a fan of old movies/Tin Pan Alley. He's a former twink gone to seed before I met him, and I personally think it is charming. There is a reason we are going on 22 years.

We call it “fooling around.”

"Still?" I'm 56 and I've never said it with a straight face. It's laughably prim and archaic. I say have sex or fuck, or any of the other normal euphemisms and slang. This isn't junior high.

I say marital relations or wifely obligations. "Make love," ugh..that is lockerroom talk. Lewd. Pornographic. I hate just reading those words, let alone saying them! I could never. It isn't ladylike.

My live-in lover and I use the term regularly.

We created the euphemism ‘dancing bare’ so as not to shock the anti-homosexualists.

To quote a certain Mr. Lennie Briscoe:

"the horizontal cha-cha"

It's cheesy, but I've like it when boyfriends have said it. It's kind of hot.

What happened to pork? Was that just an '87-'88 thing?

“Having sex” and “making live” are two different things. There’s a lot of similarities, but they are different activities

Before the 1970's it meant a make-out session, not sex. See Rebecca, where Maxim, laughing, says to No-Name:

"This isn't at all your idea of a proposal, is it? It should be in a conservatory, you in a white frock with a red rose in your hand...and a violin playing in the distance, and I should be making violent love to you behind a palm tree."

Woo.

R24 so you’re the one still playing Sims in 2023

When someone under 50 use the term it often means they never or rarely have sex, just dream of "making love." I picture Tatum O'Neal in "Little Darlings," and yes, there are people like that at age 30+

R8, can I make love to you?

Most of the kids are now saying "destroy my hole. "

People who say this tend to be steadfastly monogamous and extremely modest about sexual or bodily matters. The type of person who uses childish slang to refer to body parts or functions. Someone who equates sex with love and considers it "a sacred act." There's usually a fair amount of naïveté going on, too. As R26 says, it's often someone with little to no sexual experience, who absorbed a lot of conservative messages about romance, sex, and especially marriage. These are the types who "save themselves" because "making love" is a special gift for your one true love, and if you just "give it away" you're "damaged goods."

Which is why it's such a huge dick-wilter and likely to trigger negative memories and conditioning for gay men. Don't say this. You look and sound stupid.

R29 But the Golden Girls always say “making love”.

[quote]But the Golden Girls always say “making love”.

Are you aware that the Golden Girls is a work of fiction? It's a sitcom. They're not real people, they're actors speaking lines written by writers. From almost 40 years ago. For a network sitcom.

Are you okay? What is wrong with you?

Makin love to that bussy!

I only use the term when I'm making whoopie.

Right wingers have taken up the cause of returning to calling it "making love".

"Hey. Let's make love."

--Rosemary to Guy Woodhouse, their first evening in The Bramford

Let’s make love

Depends on my feelings for the guy but, for sure, I make love to and with some men. And some times we just fuck, too. But it's an indicator of the nature of the relationship.

e) all of the above

Last night I had a nightmare about Ron DeSatan. That he was fucking me behind his wife's back. We were definitely not "making love" I woke up sweating. I think I need a break from the news.

hook up

connect

OP: Make love? Do you think I'm Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton?

They were making love while I was preparing lunches!

Make love? Let's just call it masturbation..

Old people's term because they can't handle the word sex, and think sex has something to do with love.

R44 is obviously a loner

It's a silly term. But this song is great.

Dance Like We’re Making Love

No. We call it 'recreation'. But 'making love' is a nice term.

It’s better than “sleeping with” somebody.

'sleepin around' as my grandmother used to say

Fuck is so low class.

Having sex or hooking up would suffice.

I prefer makin’ whoppee. Much classier.

^ Indeed.

All I know is there's more to love than making love...

Bumpin’ uglies

Getting down, getting busy, a little nookie, give ya a li’l something, fucking, having sex.

Intimacy if you are talking to your therapist.

But the terms making love and sleeping together is gross.

I had an ex who said, "wanna play?"

I nicknamed him Chucky.

Roberta Flack

ChatGPT’s summary of this thread so far

🕰️ Nostalgia vs. Reality: Many posters noted “no real person has said that term since 1975,” though they find it “kind of sweet”

Some insisted it was more common decades ago, and occasionally referenced in old movies or TV, even if actual speech patterns varied.

Who still uses it? A few people shared that their partners—especially those who are “musicians” or fans of old Tin Pan Alley music—still use “make love,” finding it charming . Others admitted that they use the phrase themselves in long-term, affectionate relationships.

Cultural and generational divides: Usage is often seen as prim, archaic, or naive, with one commenter saying they'd “never said it with a straight face—laughably prim and archaic”

Another described “making love” as feeling reserved for monogamy, sacrosanct sex, and less experienced individuals, noting it could come across as naïve.

Euphemisms, slang & attitudes: Some find phrases like “sleeping with” or “making love” off-putting—“sleeping with makes my skin crawl”

Others offered alternatives:

“We call it ‘fooling around.’”

“Makin’ whoopee”— considered classier by a few

Some still cling to older terms like “marital relations” or even jokingly refer to it as “locker‑room talk.”

Context matters: Posters agreed that saying “make love” signals a different tone and intention from “having sex” or “hooking up.” It often implies emotional closeness or deeper intimacy datalounge.com.

Some thought it appropriate for “cute older couples,” but almost always avoided by younger or more casually sexual speakers.

Takeaway Conclusion: “Make love” is widely regarded as outdated—mostly used now playfully, mockingly, or within nostalgic/romantic contexts. A small number still use it sincerely, often in lifelong relationships, but for most it’s a quaint relic of premodern sexual vocabulary.

You made love to me on Christmas morning. Well, I just wanted to tell you that I'm pregnant and I want money.

My Peter and I make love on the third Friday of each month!

R23 I needed that.