They call it a platonic relationship. I'm not sure what the noun form of the word is. Platonomy? Platonism? I know it all goes back to Plato, but I'm not sure why that would be. On the other hand, Plato was a philosopher and, if Ancient Greece was anything like present-day America, "philosopher" just means that he didn't have any real job skills. Or he smoked too much pot. Same thing, right? Anyway, if that's true, then I'm sure Plato got the "Let's just be friends" speech a lot more often than most people.

 

I recently saw a movie called "Little Manhattan" that ended with the "Let's just be friends" speech, and it was sentimental and moving in a way that was not at all diminished by the fact that it was followed by the line "I'm just 11, I don't know what I want." I know that's funny but seriously, it doesn't get better when the woman giving you the speech is 30 or 40.

 

The funny thing about it is that every single time a guy gets the "Let's Just Be Friends" speech from a woman with whom he wasn't friends before, they never wind up as friends. Even though that's what she says she wanted. Right before she told you that she didn't know what she wanted.

 

I don't mean to sound down on women, because almost no one I know really knows what they want. And I don't just mean with regards to romance, marriage or platonomy. I mean with career and goals and life in general. In a way it almost makes me jealous of someone like The Fugitive. If you asked the Fugitive what he wanted, he would have an answer ready: "To find the elusive one-armed man who can clear my name." Women fell in love with the Fugitive every week it seems, but he always had to run before they could change their minds and tell him "Let's just be friends".