My least favorite gerund

Dating, meaning in the process of seeing someone of a possible romantic interest on a regular basis. That's a fairly straightforward definition. Obviously the derivation is somewhat more complex, since the verb 'to date' in this sense comes from the noun 'date,' which became an 'occasion on which two people meet for a potentially romantic tryst' because of the practice of 'setting a date' on a calendar for an event. Therefore, 'dating' originates from the notion of a square on a calendar, and I suppose that the subsequent practice of accounting for the time that has passed since one's original 'date' (presuming the dates continued on a relatively unbroken basis), e.g. 'we have been dating for 6 weeks,' makes sense.

But here's the problem for me. Going on 'dates' implies that one sets a date for each meeting and that they are finite occasions in and of themselves. But 'dating' doesn't have to mean a series of dates. Amongst people in their 20s and 30s in the city, it can mean 'having slept together more than once and in full knowledge of the other's first and last names.' It is also used to describe a relationship in which people spend all of their time together, possibly sharing a living arrangement, without the existence of a marriage agreement.

So 'dating' is what you are doing from the moment you decide to sleep with someone a second time until you get married?

This is why I hate this word. I don't think I would hate it if there were acceptable gradations with their own terms. I would still have issues with its etymology, as well as with the annoying sound it makes coming out of people's mouths, but I would not unfairly hold it responsible for the dearth of descriptive terms for the varying levels of relationships.

Other options only make things more confusing: 'hooking up,' which means sleeping together but not (apparently?) going on actual dates; 'hanging out,' which means spending time together and possibly sleeping together but exhibiting an unwillingness to even commit to a nebulous term like 'dating;' 'in a relationship,' which to some people means 'almost married' and to others means 'seeing someone more than once a week.'

All of this crap is indicative of the fact that no one seems to meet anyone they actually want to be involved with; it also seems to show that even if someone is very interested, they won't risk losing face by admitting to any more interest than the lowest level of involvement description.

At any rate, all of this lexical confusion isn't making me any more eager to splash around in the (ew) dating pool.