Today, the Merriam-Webster online dictionary added the term "ghosting" among 1,000 other "new" words that creep into our collective vernacular.

According to the dictionary, ghosting is the "phenomenon of leaving a relationship of some kind by abruptly ending all contact with the other person, and especially electronic contact, like texts, emails, and chats."

However, "breadcrumbing," is far more savage and well, annoying. Anyone who's spent more than a day on dating apps like Tinder are familiar with this action. It's when you get a flirty conversation going...and it goes nowhere. You just get crumbs of communication from the other person and, well -- that's all.

The Huffington Post describes it like this: "like Hansel and Gretel, they leave behind a trail of breadcrumbs in the form of flirtatious messages. They may be talking to many people online, just for the buzz. But they never want to meet in real life."

The New York Times calls it "a cousin of the ‘friend zone,’” said Rachel Simmons, an author and leadership coach at Smith College. “It’s about relegating a person to a particular dead end, but one that still keeps them hanging on in some way," in the article The Agony of the Digital Tease.

So how to handle it? Unless you are getting a little serotonin hit when those messages come through (hey, we don't judge), just stop responding! A breadcrumber will move on to frustrate someone else. And if frustration is what you're into, then go for it.

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