Talk:Making out (disambiguation)

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Too much focus on niche meaning[edit]

Undoubtedly most people looking up Make out are looking for the normal meaning of the phrase, not the regionally localised euphemism. Unexpectedly arriving at a page all about osculation and pets, they will naturally check out Make out (disambiguation) to find only references to media, entertainment, and fluid bonding.

Contrast that with wiktionary which emphasises its main usage is to write out, to discern (visually or mentally), or to (mis)represent.

Confirming with etymonline shows that the sense of "understand" predates the euphemism fourfold.

When encountering the phrase "make out" in song lyrics, for example:

Some people offered up answers.
We made out like we heard - they were only words.
They didn't add up to a change in the way we were living.
(Gotye: Eyes Wide Open)

this definitely refers to (mis)representations. The lyrics aren't suggesting that the listeners osculated as if they had heard. 121.216.218.250 (talk) 02:37, 22 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I've reverted. We're not a dictionary, and Wikitionary is not a reliable source. BMK (talk) 01:37, 24 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]