Hmmmmm.... interesting question BigBear .... I've never really thought about it in generic terms .... my friends are my friends .... (men or women) and there are some I'd date .. some I've started dating before we became friends and some I probably wouldn't date with a purpose, though I'd gladly attend some function or other with them if one of us needed a "date" to comfortably attend. One of the funnest times I ever had as a night out was such an occassion .... it was sponsored by a local singles church group and the only way you could attend was with a "date" ... a lot of people there came with a friend they probably wouldn't date (with a purpose), so it ended up in the dancing time that there were exactly the number of people for everyone to be dancing, but most of the dances weren't with the person you came to the party with ... all of us had a great time ... and in fact the people who said it wasn't as fun for them ... the ones who were there with a boy/girl friend that they were seriously dating.

never say never I guess ...