A is for ABANDON
It is estimated that over a lifetime we will abandon over 1000 friends.

B is for BLOOD BROTHERS
This tribal custom is found all around the world. Two friends consecrate their friendship in a ceremony where the exchange of small quantities of blood symbolizes union . Pagan Europe had blood-brother rituals . As Christian missionaries swept across Europe, the earliest among them consecrated Blood Brotherhood ceremonies in the doorways of Catholic churches. Like other Pagan customs, blood brotherhood had to be retained in order to keep new Christians happy, but it also had to be changed in order to reinforce Christian doctrine. Clerics were concerned that these intense relationships would distract people from God, and that blood symbolism would compete with the symbolism of Communion. They changed the ceremony to "Godsibb," or "siblings before God." Godsibbs were obligated to help each other in their material lives, much like blood brothers. Godsibb eventually evolved into the word "GOSSIP ’ which originally had no negative connotations and meant "the conversation of close friends." It evolved into its present-day meaning during the 1800’s.

BOSTON MARRIAGE
During feminism’s First Wave, many women cohabited with nonsexual friends for life. This was called a "Boston marriage."

BAND
Some might say the band was just one extended Batchelor Party.

BCC
For friends’ emails that you want to keep hidden from other friends- see J for jealousy. Block all communications from offending parties

BATHCHELOR PARTY
Since many men still "drift away" from close friends after marriage, some people argue that the bachelor party is a ritual of repressed friendship—the raucous sexuality is just a mask for feelings of loss as one becomes more detached from one’s friends.

C is for CC’ COMMUNITIES
CC is the common denominator in this very modern form of community.

CHATROOM
MSN shut all its free, un-moderated chat services around the globe on October 14th.

D is for DIGITAL-INSECURITY.
You never friendstered me back! DI is the anxiety you feel about asking someone to be your "friend" or "contact" on Friendster or other online group. Symptoms of high DI ; taking more than 10 minutes to send a text, checking your friendster more than 10 times a day.

DROOGS Alex and his Malenky ones getting up to no good.

DONATION
What would you have transplanted out to help a friend or stranger? You can record these details on your driving license and Boots Advantage card.

E is for E-VADE
While half the world has never made a phone call, in a (MORI/Lycos) survey in Great Britain 13% of respondents stated that they had ended a relationship at least once through text messaging. Just as technology makes it 10 times easier to send an e-vite, it also makes it 10 times easier to evade confrontations in friendships and relationships. Bring on stunted e-motion.

F is for FRIENDSTER
If you don’t know what it is yet, you are probably far too old to be reading this. See O for OLDStER. Otherwise known as Fuckster, Google datesville in disguise.If you’ve not yet joined, chances are you soon will. If not Friendster, another kind of online friendship site; there are plenty to choose from. Black Peeps,Rhyze, Kellan, Meet Up MakeOutClub, Gay-Dar Girls. Is Friendster just a passing novelty, like Friends Re-united, or does it represent a shift in the way we will form relationships and friendships in the future? The stigma of meeting people for dates over the net is fast diminishing. Perhaps it is just a more sophisticated form of speed dating? More sensible? Friendster helps us spy on friends, and future friends. On this new transparent grapevine we can see our ex’s new dates in low res, watch for the ‘In a relationship’ tag to pop up. Bare your tastes to the world in this harshly lit club house. Also worryingly addictive.

FACE TO FACE See Undivided attention.

G is for GIFTS
In the US the move from paper vouchers to the plastic gift card has boosted the gift card and gift certificate sales, which have grown 33% since 1997. The average 13 yr old spends £10 on each friend for each Birthday. Gifts given by your family to you are for your protection- money, the keys. Gifts given by your friends are for life-long learning along with them: books, CDs.

H is for HANGING OUT
Oh the alcoholic afternoons, we spent in your room meant more to me than any, any living thing on earth. The nowheres; bedroooms, bus stops, precincts, where we go together.

I is for INSTANT MESSAGING
In the chat room fallout, get a Buddy List, ICQ, AIM, or MSN messenger. For monitoring on a more immediate, invasive level. See V for VIRTUAL FRIEND.

INTROVERSTER
`Create your own barrier to protect yourself against interaction with people. It's easy and fun!’ www.gregstorey.com/airbag/introvertster/

J is for JEALOUSY.
One of the most common causes in the breakdown of friendships. `Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend's success’ Wilde.

K is for KITH
An archaic Scottish word meaning, roughly, ‘friends and neighbours‘; as opposed to "KIN," blood relatives. The word "kith" is related to word "kythe" which means "to make known" or "to become known. According to Euripides, `One loyal friend is worth 10,000 relatives.’

KASENDI
A name of one of the African rites of ritual friendship or blood-brotherhood, in which the blood is mixed together with beer and the friends then exchange their beers in order to cement the ritual.

L is for LESSONS
In the last year schools have began to introduce friendship classes. Apparently children today no longer know how to make friends. Friendship stations are set up in the playground for individuals at a loose end. These are manned by older pupils appointed on a rotation basis. At the end of break-time teachers take five minutes to debrief about any developments (–ve / +ve) in the playground. This practice prepares children to make them able to vocalize their feelings and to be more effective learners.

LONLINESS
In our society, feeling alone can be experienced as a kind of social crime. 70% of Americans, and 64% of Brits say they have many acquaintances but few close friends. They experience this as a serious void in their lives.

M is for MULTI PURPOSE FRIENDS
Friendship evolves with the changes in society. As a result of frantic working lives, it is predicted that we will develop different kinds of friends for different emotional needs. The MPF is an all rounder, a friend we have known for a while who we can rely on. They are always sent messages on your CC list: keep them informed.

MILIGRAM, STANLEY
Famous for carrying out six degrees of separation experiment, who we can thank for the FRIENDSTER revelation). Miligram asked 160 families in Nebraska to get a package to a stockbroker in Boston who had a home in Sharon, Mass. The Nebraskans were not allowed to mail the package directly to the broker; it had to be mailed or carried by hand from one acquaintance to the next, until it was delivered in person to the broker. Before the experiment began, Milgram asked his colleagues how many steps they thought it would take for the packages to make the trip; the consensus was around 100. In fact, it took about five or six intermediary transactions for most of the packages to get from Omaha to the broker-the "six degrees of separation" that we're familiar with today. Everyone who has ever appeared in a Hollywood movie is connected to Kevin Bacon though six degrees of separation. Recently, a team of sociologists at Columbia University are tested the six degree theory on a global level in the Electronic Small World Project. This team has already selected a number of targets, distributed across the globe and of different ages, races, professions, and socio-economic classes. They invited people on the Internet to be a sender, one whom they do not know, from any and every walk of life. Once the sender has signed up, they will receive a single e-mail with the identity of their target person and some basic information about that person. They are then asked to supply the team with the name and e-mail address of a friend whom they select as the next link. There are now 50,000 message chains originating in over 150 countries seeking out 18 targets in the United State, Europe, South American, Asia and the Pacific. Go to http://smallworld.columbia.edu/

MAYBE MORE
Nearly 18 per cent of on-line daters are married or living common law. Of that group, 80% per cent are men, and 80% of those men often use online dating to look for sexual relationships.

MARRIAGE
In some modern African nations and tribes, the word for "marriage" and for "committed friendship" is the same word. See Boston Marriage and Band.

N is for NEGATIVE FRIENDS
According to Jan Yager, author of When Friendship Hurts, there are 21 types of negative friends: Promise Breakster, Takester, Borrowster, Risk Takester. Self-Absorbedster. Cheatster. Discloster Rejectster Bloodsuckster. Stalkster. These are all attributes of different members of your family which you can do nothing about. see A for Abandon.

NETWORK
I am currently connected to 307,588 people in my Personal Network, through 15 friends. Hardnosed or friendly, its got to be done.

O is for ONE UPSTER
`Do not make friends who are comfortable to be with. Make friends who will force you to lever yourself up‘. Thomas J. Watson

OLDSTER
Friendster for Oldies. If not now, soon. Aka the Bridge Club or Bingo, depending on your social standing.

ONE TO ONE
For maximum expression and comprehension. 3’s a crowd; 2 will inevitably form a stronger bond and start to gossip about or bully the third.

P is for PENPALS
For the past 7 years I have had a written correspondence with someone I have never, and probably never will meet. Back in the day Nendie P D was in pen pal correspondence with Mayor Shmhokes daughter In Baltimore. Nina M once had a surprise Christmas 2 week visit from her Ukrainian pen pal, Natalia.

PEER 2 PEER Until you’re shopped
promoter friends Who send you messages broadcast over radio and set you up on friendster.

Q is for QUAKERS
Directly translatable as `The religious society of friends’. They value all things and relationships equally.

R is for RESIDENCE
When good neighbours become good friends: Despite the modern idea that we are all more happily mobile, a recent study showed that satisfactory friendship networks sharply rose from 53 per cent of those in a residence for under five years, and up to 72 per cent of those in a residence for twenty or more years.

ROMANTIC FRIENDSHIP
During the Renaissance, Romantic Friendship was in many ways, the same-sex counterpart to the newly developing idea of romantic love. Many of the modern customs of infatuation (carving initials in trees, love poetry) were originally practiced by both same-sex friends and opposite-sex lovers. Each year an average of 160 million romance novels are sold worldwide.

S is for SOUND BITE TOUCH
At a time when it's much easier to be in touch with each other, some people argue that friendships have become more shallow. If you can have casual sex, then why not casual friendship? Sort out your SUFs from your MPFs.

SINGLE USE FRIENDS
The SUF is a second level friend, someone we share a specific activity with. As leisure choices become more varied we will develop strong relationships with SUFs. Remember to SEARCH BY INTEREST.

SOLIDARITY
A kid who tells on another kid is a dead kid.

STALKSTERS
Surveillance from your nearest and dearest. Check Last Log in on Friendster or harass your mates with Ims.

T is for TRUST
In the last 25 years, research shows that for each year trust has been in decline by .5% per year.

THUMBs
To make friends today, we let our thumbs do the talking. Almost 9 in 10 of 15-24 year olds owns a mobile phone. On average we send 10 texts to friends per day. According to Sadie Plant, as a result, thumbs have become bigger, and more muscular. In Italy, a recent survey of children aged between nine and 10 found 56% owned mobile phones. Of these 68% never switched the phones off; 80% kept them on in church; 86% kept them on during lessons. The role that mobiles play in cementing and sustaining friendships amongst young people today cannot be underestimated. Most young people hate having to delete text messages which are of emotional significance. Companies are currently researching the development of memory chips so we can store texts which are of sentimental value. Social theorists have likened the text messaging amongst young people today to the age-old practice of gift exchange. See G for GIFTS.

TWO FACED
`If we all told what we know of one another, there would not be four friends in the world’ Blaise Pascal.

U is for UNDIVIDED ATTENTION
Sometimes friends deserve your undivided attention. So switch off your mobile, blackberry wireless and disconnect your Friendster. Go ONE TO ONE.
One the other hand, If everyone’s vying for your undivided attention, why give yourself the added stress. See I for introverster.

V is for VIRTUAL FRIEND
One of the most important qualities in an ideal Virtual friend, should they ever be pioneered, was a switch off button.

W is for WORKMATES
Changes within the workplace have led to strategies and conditions that both encourage and work against workplace friendships. The increased use of teamwork helps to promote friendships, while increased work intensification and job insecurity work against the formation of good work place friendships. Workplace friendships, however, do not provide the same type of resistance to adverse work conditions that more collective forms of solidarity do.

X is for XEROX.
Never to be underrated, the old school way to share something with a friend. For most satisfying results do it for free at work. These days we just click Forward.
X BOX
More Nu-skool share. Sitting next to each other like on a bus but in a more ‘in bed’ situation- with a hangover.

Y is for YESTERDAY
If you can’t maintain a friendship in the here and now, there’s always good old www.friendsreunited.com

Z is for ZOO Great place to go with your mates.