Life

13 People Define What Love Means to Them

Random question time: How do you define love? I mean, personally — what is love, to you? Redditor sillybammy recently asked the denizens of AskReddit to describe what love was to them, and the results are all kinds of amazing. There was a catch, though: Each Redditor had to offer their definition without using the words “baby,” “don’t,” “hurt,” and “me.” Why? Because every single time someone on Reddit writes the words, “What is love?” The next eight zillion responses always, without fail, have something to do with Haddaway, A Night at the Roxbury, or both. Sometimes it's worth a laugh...but there's a time and a place, and right now, it's not either.

But it turns out Reddit can get quite poetic when stripped of its comedic crutches. Some quoted other wise and occasionally hilarious people; others came up with some beautiful turns of phrases all their own; and overall, there’s a lot of really gorgeous stuff in there. Love is many things — and often different things to different people — but there’s room for every single possible definition within its warm and welcoming embrace. Taken together, they’re all part of a whole, with plenty of space left to keep adding to it. Reddit doesn’t often make me feel warm and fuzzy, but today, it definitely has.

Here are some of my favorites; head on over to the original AskReddit thread for more.

1. Sometimes Love Is Delusional

Nobody does love like British comedy.

2. Sometimes It’s Like Sci-Fi

If you haven’t read A Stranger in a Strange Land, I recommend that you do so at your soonest convenience. Just make sure whichever edition you’re reading was published before 1991; the line got omitted in that year’s somewhat ironically named “Uncut” edition.

3. Sometimes It’s Literal Chaos

And also incredibly British-sounding.

4. Sometimes It’s Like Your Favorite Television Show

Confession: I still haven’t actually watched Orange Is the New Black. But imamonster92 is right — that quote is spot on.

5. It’s About Trust

Who knew a crime procedural knew so much about love?

6. It’s Usually About Happiness

Specifically, someone else's.

7. Sometimes It Makes No Sense

But it doesn’t have to make sense. It just is.

8. Sometimes It’s Like a Sunny Day

Whether or not the sun actually happens to be out that day.

9. It’s All This:

And more.

10. It’s Also Always This:

I'm not religious either, but I agree.

11. It’s a Story

This is my favorite definition. I like things to be story-shaped — I always have — and love is one of the greatest stories there is. The best part is finding out what happens next.

12. It’s Not Always Pretty

This is my second-favorite definition. Because it’s very, very true.

13. But of Course, It’s Also…

…Apparently some sort of phenomenon from the SCP Foundation, as many Redditors proceeded to comment thereafter. They’re not wrong.

Play us out, boys:

Images: Giphy