Such pressure has been put on the word "love" from society that people are terrified to use it. Sometimes this pressure and uncertainty of another's feelings leads to the destruction of relationships, friendships, and family ties. There needs to be more synonyms for the word "love." Sure, there are a lot of expressions to show the different kinds of love. "I want you." "I miss you." "If something happened to you, I would be very upset." "I want to spend forever with you." The list goes on and on. People use the word "love" to express all of those crazy emotions love can bring when you may not necessarily feel all of them. Why aren't there synonyms for the different kinds and stages of love?
I believe the expression to encompass all those dedicated emotions, the kind of love that means "I am eternally faithful to you and want to spend my life with you" should be "in love." Say "I'm in love with you" when you want to be with someone forever. However, those pile of emotions are strong and scary to gather and contain within our fragile bodies. That kind of love takes years, often not ever, to come across.
This is where the synonyms come into play. The basic term "love" should be used in the most general sense possible. Saying "I love you" to someone should mean "I care about you. I want to help you with your life. I hope we are around each other for awhile. If you were no longer a part of my life, it would be hard." It can be used with any intimate person in your life, such as family, best friends, friends with benefits, boyfriends, girlfriends, etc.
Then there are all the stages in between.
"I want to sleep with you" should be something silly and cheesy, like "tango."
"I need you here for [insert reason here]" should be something to do with "longing."
"I want a distraction from this pain" should be a less emergency version of "help."
"I need advice/I want to give you advice" should have something to do with "expertise."
The most confusing form of love is the kind between dating couples. It all starts with the lust (or "tango"). But each couple is different, and the progression of their love could include vastly different feelings. This is the kind of love that most calls for synonyms. There is the ever present "tango." Then "longing." Often "help/expertise." And, if it continues, the imagination takes over. Couples decide they want to stay together for a while. It doesn't mean forever. It doesn't mean I want to have your babies. It means, "I like this. I like you. I don't want to see you out of my life for any reason. Plus our tango is awesome." Where is the word for that? How can you express that form of love without pushing your significant other away?
The overrating of the word love causes (seldom) epic romances and (often) complete catastrophes. People that could have gone the distance don't because of a "wrong" use of love. Or they say "love" but each person in the relationship could have a different definition, causing friction in the future. But not ever using an expression of love, missing the opportunities to express to your significant other how you feel about them at whatever level you are at, also causes problems. The invention of love synonyms would only benefit every type of love and person there is out there. Think of how much the success rates of couples would go up if only there were clear cut definitions to the most mysterious and consuming feeling in the history of the world.
