Expect

I expect it to rain tomorrow.
I expect you to repay your debt.

This word is unfortunately overloaded in our language. The two meanings are very distinct in most usages, but sometimes they collide and the result is regretfully ambiguous. More relevant to my interests and life, the word remains overloaded, and more often so, in the specific context of relationships and negotiations. When someone expects something or, more specifically, says they expect something, are they making a prediction, or are they observing an obligation? When you say you don't have expectations, are you failing to anticipate likely outcomes, or are you simply being open minded? If you suggest someone else should not have expectations, do you mean that they don't have enough information on which to base a true hypothesis, or that you do not expect to owe them anything? It is important that when we use words like this that the person hearing or reading them knows what we meant. That is not always the case, a situation I endeavor to avoid when possible. I hope this writing helps others out there see the distinction, and may it improve your negotiations in the future.

"Sex"

Any act involving two or more people, the goal of which is one or more orgasms.

This definition comes from a partner of mine. It isn't perfect, but it encompasses a lot of activities that commonly get called "sex" but with qualifiers, like oral sex, group sex, cyber sex, etc. Unfortunately, it's also not the definition most people use. In perhaps 75-90% of usage I encounter, "sex" means male-female genital-genital penetrative intercourse. The bulk of the remainder include anal sex and an unspecified number of girl-girl interactions, neither of which are particularly relevant in contexts where I'm participating in the conversation.

That said, what other terms best convey the idea of all sorts of directed erogenous touching (including that one, which is so clinical as to either confuse people or drive them to laughter or rejection or both)? I've heard "sexy times", "sex-y play", "sexual play", "erogenous stimulation". What else is out there? Are there other subsets of sexy times that can be conveyed succinctly?

I ask this not entirely out of academic interest. My personal bedroom proclivities tend toward second and third base. That isn't normal, and is a relatively important factor in a lot of ways, so in the context of a casual conversation leading towards play I am always looking for better ways to get my meaning across unambiguously without sounding too clinical.