If you have to look something up on Urban Dictionary, it's probably not something that should be organized to occur in a public place. Yet, in the year 2016, Toronto will be holding a Netflix and Chill Festival. The event, surprisingly, is not sponsored by Tinder.
For those who've been in a committed relationship for the last year or so, or otherwise live in a blissful world where keeping up with ever-evolving hook-up slang is somehow unnecessary, allow us to explain. "Netflix and Chill" has become a kind of internet dating shorthand for an intimate get-together that will involve exactly zero episodes of Orange Is the New Black. It's the term used by modern lovers, because inviting someone over to have sex point-blank would just be so...old-fashioned.
Of course, Netflix and Chill is just a new phrase for an age-old phenomenon. Our favorite '90s sitcoms are littered with "teens go on a date to the movies, but neither watch the movie" story lines. Maybe it's the promise of a darkened living room, or just the fact that "going to Duane Reade and Chill" doesn't have the same ring, but Netflix and Chill just seems like a natural evolution.
Now we just have to wait until May 28 to see if the Toronto festival will be overrun with folks who'd genuinely rather binge-watch 30 Rock on the grass with strangers than from the comfort of their own couch, or if the lawn will be descended upon by twentysomethings ready for some Tindering IRL.