What it means
The fuzzy early phase of dating where two people are texting, flirting and feeling things out, but nobody has put a label on anything yet. Past strangers but not officially together, stuck in that hopeful, slightly anxious limbo of constant messaging.
Usage examples
"We have been in the talking stage for a month and I still do not know where this is going."
"The talking stage is exhausting, all the texting with none of the certainty."
"We're deep in the talking stage right now, texting all day and still acting allergic to defining it."
"I can't do another talking stage, babes. That's just emotional admin with kissy emojis."
Where it comes from
It grew out of the everyday line talking to someone, meaning you're messaging or vibing with a person romantically. As dating shifted onto phones and DMs, people started treating that blurry pre-relationship phase as its own named chapter, so talking stage stuck.
