Underground (地中)

The word underground has various usages and is actually a pretty versatile word, maybe not as versatile as the most versatile word (with the most meanings), found to be "to" or "for," I forget which. Underground even had some cultural significance in the U.S., where slaves during Pre-Civil War times would escape form the South to the North via the Underground Railroad, where one of the many heroes who "conducted" the Underground Railroad was Harriet Tubman, the new face of the American $20 bill, replacing the old Andrew Jackson. Actually pretty significant because I'd wager the 20 dollar bill is one of the most used bills, next to the $1. Rich people have Benjamins, homeless people have the Washingtons, but middle-class people like myself use the Jacksons (now Tubmans, I guess). 

Underground in that context was "secretive," or "illegal," which is understood from the context of being under the ground thus not seen by most people, and "The Underground" is the name of London's subway system, which makes sense because by definition a subway is under ground, but modern society has added more terms: apparently it also means "opposite of mainstream," like an artist producing a work that is done not to achieve commercial success. "Hipster" comes to mind. I appreciate hipsters and their ardent need not to conform to the rest of society, but personally I like most of what the mainstream likes: I like watching TV, working a normal job, going on vacation, having a family one day, all the good things. I don't need to be underground (except when I'm working out, I find that being in the basement level or below is great during the summer because it's naturally cool already). I've always wondered about the paradox that if a hipster is trying to be a hipster by not conforming to the mainstream, isn't that conforming to the idea of a hipster, or what the mainstream perceives are hipster characters, thus conforming to something anyway? Basically to be "underground," one has to come up with something new every time so that nothing becomes mainstream, or else be labeled as too "mainstream," I'd rather be above ground. 

"Going underground," though has a whole different set of definitions, one that has far-reaching implications into the dating world: 1. To be so overloaded with study that one will temporarily discontinue any relationships and/or one's social life in order to find more time 

2. To be so fed up with maintaining relationships that one will stop answering one's phone, email etc and will seem to disappear off the face of the earth.

I've heard of the first definition, not the second. Pretty similar, but for my co-worker who just received a text from her on-off dating "man of her dreams," it was very difficult to take and sent a message of "I'm so fed up." 

Dating and letting the other person know you want to stop seeing them is difficult. It's a balance between being upfront and telling the other person it's over so they can move on with their life (sometimes people don't like the bluntness of this though and cry/ get upset), or just not calling them at all and making them get the hint eventually like it's over (also could make people upset due to the lack of intimacy of it). Sending a text of "I'm going underground" seems a little callous and too convenient in that it is in the middle ground between "hey it's over" and not saying anything at all, but it could also seem like a copout and excuse without telling the other person it's over. These things are never easy, and it varies on the people involved and how long the people have been together, but "going underground" is probably not the right way to phrase it. 

Fantasize on, 

Robert Yan