Sunday 28 February 2010

"She's a friend of yours..."

She is? I do not recognise the person being described to me. "You know she has a red car with a ding in the side and her hair is sort of down to here and you were talking to her outside the library the other day. " Right. I still do not know.
"Oh come on Cat! You must know who I mean! She's got this sort of funny..."
The explanation goes on and eventually we sort it out. I do not know the name of the person being described and I certainly would not have called her a friend. She is a perfectly pleasant person but she is a casual acquaintance - if that. As we both use the same library and the same supermarket we recognise one another's faces. We can chat about the weather, something we have read or what her son did at school or her daughter did at pre-school. I have no idea where she lives. I know she buys the expensive 'organic' milk and likes to use the Farmers' Market at the Showgrounds on Sundays. I do not know much else about her.
But, according to the other acquaintance, she is a 'friend". I have been puzzling over this ever since. What makes someone a friend rather than an acquaintance or someone you are friendly with?
I count as friends people I have never physically met. We usually have a lot of things in common. We might have shared experiences. We may have similar interests. I suspect that, at very least, we could enjoy a cup of tea or coffee together. I wonder if this might be the dividing line for friendship v acquaintanceship? I do not know. I doubt it but it may be a marker.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like your definitions. An aquaintance is someone I know; a friend is someone I like.

Anonymous said...

Friends are the ones who put up with me in whatever mood I am in, not because they are family, but because they want to. I am lucky in that a large portion of my family are also friends. Life doesn't get much better than that.

Judy B

catdownunder said...

Someone also told me that 'friends are the relatives you choose to have' - I rather like that as well.

Melinda Szymanik said...

Maybe a friend is someone whose name you want to know (although I guess that could apply to enemies as well)?

Interesting question. The important thing is I know who my friends are :)

catdownunder said...

Knowing who your enemies are is very definitely important Melinda!
There is the idea that when we name people we have power over them too.