Who would you consider your friend?

Have they seen me at my worst, or as near as dammit, and love me anyway? And vice versa? Then we’re friends.

Someone you can count on with your very life.
See ya…..Gary/wtf

Anyone who’ll help you pack and move in the rain on a Saturday and sunday.

friends are those people that coming running in when everyone else is running out when the shit hits the fan.

bulbatron9

I’m not sure…

I’d like @Facade to be my friend. =)

A person you can count on, even when you hit a rough path in life they’ll still be there

Someone that is truly honest, trustworthy, loyal, and knows how to have fun.

The confusion on this dates back to grade school, where kids consider everyone in their class their “friend.” Then you graduate from high school, and 5 years later, there’s one person that you keep in touch with.

Friends are people that you do things with. Good friends are people who inconvenience themselves for you, if you need them to, without hesitation.

Someone who goes out of their way to hang out with, or do a favor for, you.

I distinguish friends into two groups:

Friend – someone you do stuff with, share interests, have some shared beliefs, have a good time with. Also is someone you can act mostly yourself around.
Best Friend – someone who does the above, and deeply cares about your feelings and would sacrifice something to help you. You can also act more like yourself around these people and fear minimal consequences (unless you piss them off, but if they are a good friend they should always eventually be able to forgive you – and you them).

My Grandmother told me years ago, and it’s stood me in good stead, “when you are at your very lowest point, when you think the world can’t go on. Stop. Take a minute to look around you, the friends who are there for you then, they’re real. The rest, they’re not friends. I found out how true this was when i had my breakdown and wanted to die. I discovered some people I would have bet my life on, didn’t care. Worse than that I became a running joke to them. That still hurts all these years later.

here’s how you tell who’s your friends: those that will help you move on a saturday morning. those that you still know after a hideous divorce.

@Psychedelic_Zebra I’d like that too =)

MY GIRL!
...tried and true!
I LOVE HER & TRUST HER THE MOST!
...she’s ALWAYS there!

An acquaintance is someone I might work with or occasionally spend leisure time with but a friend is someone I seek out and consciously make plans to speak to, interact with, spend physical time with, someone who comes into my circle of other friends and family.

A friend is someone I’ve had a beer with on more than one occasion.. and someone who I intend to have another beer with in the future. It really narrows it down.

I fall into that second group. I feel like I have a lot of acquaintances but only 3 real friends (mom, sister, boyfriend). I call real friends people that I trust with awkward details, emotions, and pain. I can have fun with them too.

I’m the ear and shoulder for a lot of people I know (girl “friends”) but none of them reciprocate and it’s made me realize that a friendship shouldn’t be a one-way street. So I guess I’m still looking for the girl friend that I’m not related to.

My friends call me as much as I call them. They are concerned when I am sad and will listen to me say the same things 100 times. They share their happiness and sadness with me also. There is a mutual feeling of trust and we laugh a lot together.

Anyone who has cookies…

Seriously…someone who never judges you when you screw up, but instead patiently helps you fix whatever has gone wrong.

Someone who is always there for you. Especially when you need them the most. Always honest and truthful. A person who loves you no matter what and doesn’t care about the outside you, just the inside you. And always there to pick you up and keep you there when you’re down.

I’m with @aprilsimnel. If they’ve seen me at my worst, and they still want to be friends, that’s a good start. They also have to want to do things with me, including inviting me to stuff, instead of it always being the other way around.

I think my standards are too high. Or maybe I’m just not outgoing enough. Or maybe I’m just very self-protective. I am afraid that there’s something inside me that somehow is too unacceptable—and I’m also afraid that I ask too much, and expect too much, and…. I don’t know.

Maybe I also put people on a pedestal. There are people here that I’d like to be friends with, but I’m afraid to ask. I feel like I’m friendly, and I’m interested in people, and I care, but it’s still not enough.

I don’t know. I guess maybe it’s not my standards that are at fault, but something more difficult to pin down—serendipity, perhaps? I wish I knew.

My friendships include elements of admiration, trust, caring, enjoying each other’s company, knowing some of their family/friends, lending a hand, offering a shoulder, letting off steam, and acknowledging the value of our friendship.

In my opinion, if you feel a person is your friend, then they are. If you are unsure, I would go with a lot of the above suggestions/opinions: how often you hang out with them or talk to them. Sometimes it may just be about the quality of the interaction which defines a friendship. For example, you may have a friend at work that you have lunch with periodically, and because you both live too far away or whatever the circumstances are, just never hang out with them outside of work.

I think friendship is hard to define. I think it’s partly how someone makes you feel when you are around them happy, comforted. I think it’s also if you feel you can trust them enough to let them into your inner sanctum of thoughts and opinions that you normally wouldn’t tell just anyone.

I think an “acquaintance” is someone who does nothing for you emotionally, but you interact with them occasionally.

@Siren, I love that ‘definition’ that you have for acquaintance, and friend. Well said! =D

@curiouscat: thank you very much!