There is now a word for your ex who isn’t really your ex: The flex

Finally, a word to solve all your problems.

Speaking to people about past flings, we always find ourselves wanting to say ‘ex’ out of convenience but end up saying something more like ‘this guy I was seeing for two months’ or ‘just this girl that I dated this summer’. Calling these not-so-significant others your ex is granting them too much of a title – and if they found out that you were calling them your ex, they would probably freak out.

Wouldn’t life be a lot easier if we had a word for them?

Enter, the flex.

So, what is a flex?

They’re anything from a two-week long summer fling, to someone you were seeing for two years but it never got made ‘official’. What they are not is an ex-friend with benefits, feelings have to be involved.

(Credit: David Wilkinson)

Like an ex, things have to have ended – past baes only, no current baes allowed.

Essentially, a flex is someone that you were more than friends with benefits with, but less than officially a couple.

Why are they called a flex?

A fling-ex, a flexible-ex – the flex encompasses both. A fling-ex, meaning your cheeky summer fling finally has a title other than ‘the one that got away’. ‘Flexible’ in that the word can mean many different time frames and also flexible in that there’s a chance you could go back there in the future. Oi oi.

How do you use the word?

Just like you would an ex, but with maybe a hint more sass: “oh crap, my flex is over there” or “we were never official, he’s just a flex”.

Shout out to my flex (credit: Ben Glasgow)

Why do we need it?

Less couples are making it official, meaning more and more flexes are emerging.

Also, when dating you can avoid looking like a loner for not having any proper boyfriends, but can also avoid looking like a complete fuckgirl or fuckboy when they find out how many people you’ve hooked up with.

The flex makes life a lot simpler and saves explaining to the world the ins and outs of your not-quite relationship, because let’s face it, no one really cares.

(Featured image credit: Neil Stewart Photography)