Most glossaries in this category define the word and stop. These say what the term means and then what it is actually useful for, because the second half is the part you needed. Where a claim rests on data, it is our own published study and you can check the raw scores.
Rizz · Rizzmaxxing · Opener · Dry texting · Left on read · Breadcrumbing · Situationship · Looksmaxxing · Photo lineup · Prompt (dating app) · Momentum · Cold approach · Reply generator · AI wingman
Terms
Rizz
Charisma, specifically the kind that works in a romantic conversation. Shortened from the middle of the word charisma and popularised on TikTok around 2021 to 2022. It describes what you say and how you say it rather than how you look, which is why it is used as a verb as often as a noun: you rizz someone up. It has no fixed measure, and any app claiming to score your rizz is scoring something narrower and should say what.
Rizzmaxxing
Deliberately working on your conversational skill the way people work on fitness. Formed by attaching the -maxxing suffix, which comes from looksmaxxing, to rizz. It is a general internet term and not a product. FlirtGym was originally released under the name RizzMaxx and renamed before launch; the term and the old app name are unrelated things that happen to share a root.
Opener
The first message you send to a match. It carries more weight than any later message because it is the only one sent with zero context and zero obligation to reply. In our study of 40 openers scored twice each, no pattern averaged above 4.4 out of 10, and the sub-score that separated good from bad was specificity: whether the message could only have been written to that person.
Dry texting
Replying in a way that ends the exchange rather than continuing it. One-word answers, no questions, no hooks. Usually read as disinterest, and often is, but it is also what people do when they are busy or when the conversation has stopped giving them anything to respond to. The useful question is not whether she is dry texting but whether the effort split has been one-sided for long enough to matter.
Left on read
Your message was opened and not answered. Distinct from being ignored, because you know it was seen. It carries no reliable information on its own: the same silence follows a bad message, a busy week and a conversation that had already ended without either person saying so.
Breadcrumbing
Sending just enough contact to keep someone interested without moving toward anything. Occasional replies, vague plans, no follow-through. The tell is the ratio of warmth to specificity: high warmth and no concrete plan, repeated.
Situationship
A relationship that functions like one without either person defining it as one. Not a stage on the way to something else, and not necessarily dishonest; it becomes a problem when the two people privately hold different definitions of it.
Looksmaxxing
Working on physical appearance deliberately and systematically, from grooming and fitness to clothing and photography. The word carries a lot of internet baggage, some of it from communities worth avoiding, but the underlying activity is ordinary. In a dating app context the highest-leverage version is usually photo selection and order rather than anything about your face.
Photo lineup
The order your dating profile photos appear in. It matters because the first photo carries almost the whole swipe decision and everything else is only seen by people that photo already interested. Ordering is one of the few profile changes that costs nothing and can be done in a minute.
Prompt (dating app)
A short question a dating app asks you to answer on your profile, most associated with Hinge. The functional test for a prompt answer is whether a stranger could send you a specific message about it. An answer that is true but unanswerable is doing no work.
Momentum
Whether a message makes the next one easy to send. A message with momentum leaves an obvious opening. A message without it puts the whole burden of continuing on the other person, which is how conversations die without anyone deciding to end them.
Cold approach
Starting a conversation with someone in person with no introduction and no prior context. Distinct from dating-app conversation in almost every way that matters, which is why practising one does not automatically improve the other.
Reply generator
An app that takes a screenshot of a conversation and writes your next message for you. The largest category of AI dating app by far. It solves the immediate problem and leaves the underlying one untouched, which is fine if the immediate problem is what you have.
AI wingman
A loose marketing term for any app that helps with a dating conversation. It covers both reply generators and practice apps, which behave very differently, so it is worth asking which one a given app actually is before subscribing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does rizz actually mean?
Rizz is charisma in a romantic context, shortened from the middle of the word charisma and popularised on TikTok around 2021 to 2022. It refers to how you talk to someone rather than how you look, and it is used as a verb as often as a noun.
What is the difference between rizzmaxxing and looksmaxxing?
Looksmaxxing is deliberate work on physical appearance. Rizzmaxxing is deliberate work on conversational skill. Both use the -maxxing suffix, which originated with looksmaxxing. Neither is a product, and both describe an activity rather than a result.
What counts as a good dating app opener?
One the other person could only have received from you, and one that is easy to answer. In a study of 40 openers scored twice each on tone, specificity, momentum and intrigue, specificity was the sub-score that separated the highest-scoring pattern from the lowest. No pattern averaged above 4.4 out of 10, which suggests the bar is lower than most people assume.
Is being left on read a bad sign?
On its own it carries almost no information. The same silence follows a badly-judged message, a busy week, and a conversation that had already run out. What is readable is the pattern before it: who was asking questions, who was restarting the thread, and whether that was one-sided.
Test a couple of these on your own writing
Specificity and momentum are the two terms above that are easiest to measure. Both tools are free, run in the browser and need no account.
- Opener Score — scores specificity and momentum directly
- Conversation Check — measures the effort split rather than guessing at feelings
- Hinge Prompt Checker — applies the answerability test
- Photo Lineup Checker — the ordering question, without uploading anything
More from FlirtGym
What FlirtGym is · All 14 apps compared · The opener study · Free trial · Support