What makes your friends, well..."friends"?

I judge it by two things.

1. Do you know personal things about them a stranger wouldn't know.

2. If you knew they were in the same town as you at the same time, would you tell them you were there so a meetup could be arranged, or would you never say anything because you don't really care enough to want to see them.

A friend would be someone I know personal things about, and care about enough to try meeting up with if it were convenient.

An acquaintance would be someone I only know vague things about that a stranger could learn easily, and wouldn't really be worth the effort of offering a random meetup.

 

This, and when I reciprocate and the feelings are mutual. Friends are those that I am emotionally connected with and can be vulnerable with. All others are acquaintances.

 

I have "unfriended" people for these reasons. If I feel like the friendship is one sided, where I'm making all the effort to stay in touch and they are not responding, then I give up on them.

I don't expect anyone to be there for me 24/7, I don't consider myself a needy person, and I enjoy my solitude. But I do like sharing myself with people. I like listening to people and learning about people, what makes them happy, what bothers them. If I reach out to someone and ask if they want to catch up, then I am giving them an opportunity to get to know me a little bit better and to share things that they are going through. If I offer someone these opportunities several times and they don't respond, then I assume they are not interested in my friendship, they just consider me an acquaintance, and one they can live without. So they can live without me. I don't want them among my contacts if they are not going to communicate with me.

 

I’ve defitniely thought about this, and an acquaintance is someone that I know from work or class but don’t talk personal matters with, which include relationships, general life problems, hanging outside of work, etc.

A friend would include all those things I’ve listed above, and possibly more.

 

personally, a friend to me is someone who you have a mutual emotional connection with, and that you enjoy being around and they feel the same about you. someone you can talk to, hang out with, and just generally have fun with them. the main difference between a friend and a acquaintance, in my opinion, is that i wouldnt go out of my way to try and make plans with a acquaintance. but i would with a friend. and i probably wouldnt go out of my way to message a acquaintance either. acquaintances are just sort of "people you know". friends have to have a mutual connection unlike acquaintances. but thats just how i feel.

 

It really depends. I have friends who never call or text me... but if I called them right now and needed help with something, they'd be there. If I saw them tomorrow we'd have a great time together. I distanced myself from these people because they drink a lot and I'm not into the bar scene. I have other friends who can be annoying as hell, but they've been there for me and we often have interesting conversations and discuss very deep topics, which is great. I have other friends who I hear from quite regularly but we don't do anything all that exciting together.

Friends can be friends for different reasons. Not every person you consider a friend has to be super close with you, have a bunch of inside jokes with you, knows a bunch of personal details, so on and so forth. Unless that's what your personal definition of a friend is... then more power to you.

I personally have a more liberal definition of the word friend. I usually consider acquaintances to be like people who know my friends, or coworkers, people like that.

 

I am prone to talk really quite personal with acquaintances so the whole what you/they know about each other doesn't really work for me. I guess for me it's some variation on the whole "would you ask them for a ride to the airport?" thing. A friend, for me, is someone where you will help each other out. Would you drive across town to be with them because they were down? Would they help you move if you needed it? In the end I think it just comes down to the people whose lives you actually feel invested in. I have a lot of people whose company I enjoy and I can have a good conversation with who for whatever reason just don't quite rise to that level. In my book they're very enjoyable acquaintances.