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I have always been confused about how people label social gathering events. To me, whenever you invite people over, its called a “party”. The specifications (i.e. quantity of people, day of the week, time, the occasion or the activities) DO NOT matter. It is still called a “party”. You can have your different kinds of parties: birthday party, Super Bowl Party, wine tasting party, etc., but it is still called a “party”.

There has been a few occasions where, using that mindset, I was told it was the wrong terminology. Apparently there are social connotations with the term “party” that imply there is going to be a lot of people, its going to be crowded, and everybody is going to get crazy like at a “house party” or “frat party”. If it was NOT to be that case and it was going to be a smaller low-key affair, I was told to use a term like “kick-back”.

Fast forward a few years, nearing 30 now, and of course I find that people are perplexed by the term “kick-back”. Apparently it is slang, very informal, and has other social connotations. So instead of wasting my time finding out the correct terminology and definition for each social gathering event, I will continue to call it a “party” and you can figure out whatever you want to call it.

This includes but is not limited to:

Kick-back, gathering, get-together, affair, celebration, after-party, festivity, reception, potluck, at-home, frolic, soiree, carousal, kegger, rager, hoedown, hootenanny, throwdown, wapoo, turn up, bash, fiesta, bar mitzvah, partay, jam, shindig, stag night, pow wow, jamboree, gig, shibang, bonaza, palooza, (insert anything)-palooza, (insert anything)-fest, jumbalayah, sesh, san francisco bake sale, or ralph nader