Should we blame Friends for the term 'friend zone'? A look at the cultural influence of the popular sitcom

While his line ‘How you doing?’ has its own set of fan-following, Joey Tribbiani (played by Matt LeBlanc) on Friends was also instrumental in making another term popular - ‘friend zone’. Friend zone is one of the more commonly used terms to indicate that a person would rather be friends than have a romantic relationship. In Season 1, Episode 7 titled ‘The One With The Blackout’, Joey would use the term to tell Ross Geller (played by David Schwimmer) that he and Rachel Green (played by Jennifer Aniston) are in the ‘friend zone.’

Friends has been one of the most influential television shows of all time. Even after 30 years, the characters and lines from the sitcom stay relevant. And one term from the show that continues to be a part of the mainstream vocabulary is ‘friend zone’. The term even made it to the English dictionary. As per Merriam-Webster, it means ‘a state of friendship in which one’s romantic or s**ual interest in someone is not reciprocated’.

Post the episode, the term 'friend zone' caught the attention of fans who started using it as part of their daily slang. People continue to share a love-hate relationship with the term even today.

Joey teaches Ross about the friend-zone

New York City has a power outage, while Joey, Ross, Rachel, and Phoebe (played by Lisa Kudrow) are at Monica's (played by Courteney Cox) apartment, telling stories and letting time pass.

Ross has been harboring feelings for Rachel for a long time, which Joey is aware of. Rachel treats Ross as a friend as they share tales of their past relationships. Joey, who was watching their interaction, tells Ross that he waited too long to confess his feelings and now Rachel thinks of him only as a friend.

Joey tells Ross,

"It's never gonna happen. You and Rachel…because you waited too long to make your move and now you're in the ‘friend zone’.”

Ross tries to reason with Joey’s observation but falls short. Joey says,

“…Ross, you're mayor of the zone...Ross, I'm telling you, she has no idea what you're thinking. And if you don't ask her out soon, you're gonna end up stuck in the zone forever.”

Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, Friends was a hit comedy series that aired on NBC from 1994 to 2004 for 10 seasons. The show stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer. The sitcom follows the lives of six friends in New York City as they navigate through friendship, family, and their careers.

ALSO READ: I firmly believe Jim and Pam from The Office are the most realistic sitcom couple (and here's why)

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