Stepping

Verb: To go out

Technically, the above translation is incomplete. "To go out" is one of those unnecessarily vague words, that often has to be defined or explained right after. It can either mean "To go out on a date" or "To go out on the town". For some reason there is never much confusion when I tell people that I am going out. They are probably:

A) Not listening
B) Certain that there still exists no single female that would go out with me
C) Just happy to see me leave

Still, my extensive research (watching television programs) has shown conclusively that "going out" is a problematic word, having two meanings that are slightly related but very important to differentiate. That would be like having the same word meaning "poison" and "food". Or a word that means both "condom" and "erection". You are asking for trouble. This might sound a little obvious, but we need different words to describe different things.

The solution is Dutch. "Stappen", literally meaning "stepping", is not only a different word, it also does an admirable job of describing what people do when "hitting the town". "Going out" only describes the very start of the night, which is usually the least significant part, and it suggests that you don't do anything once leaving the house. Stepping involves movement, having fun, bar hopping, dancing, running away from a really muscly guy whose girlfriend you just tried to grope. You know, just, having fun. That's what stepping is all about.

This term was actually foretold by one of the greatest musical talents of our generation. Many people have stopped taking him seriously because of some unfortunate (ahem) "minor" incidents, but few have been able to equal him, and hopefully now people are able to realise this. Listen to him in this video using the word "stepping", and related words such as "step" and "stepper". Although he uses it more as a synonym for dancing, it takes on a much wider meaning.




Of course, these are songs by the genius that is R. Kelly. These two song excerpts are from "Happy People", and "Stepping into Heaven". In fact, this whole album (The Happy People Album) is filled with songs for steppers, and if you ever need to feel good and you ran out of mice to feed to your pet snake, this album will definitely better your mood. Well, unless you hate this kind of music. Then I can't help you. But stepping can.




Example Sentence:Rose: "I don't know the steps."
Jack: "Neither do I. Just go with it. Don't think."
Rose: [girly shriek]

Spoiler alert: a few scenes later scene, they have sex. Oh yeah, they be stepping! And then they "went out"...