10 Mind-Blowing Facts About Friends

5. It Invented The Term "Friend Zone"

Friends Joey
NBC

If you haven't seen Friends' earlier episodes in quite some time, it's easy to forget that the show contributed a significant number of popular terms and catchphrases to the public lexicon.

Case in point, the infamous "friend zone", a metaphorical place a man supposedly ends up when labelled "just friends", usually irreversibly, by a woman he's attracted to.

In the seventh episode of season one, "The One with the Blackout", Joey bluntly tells Ross that he waited too long to make a move on Rachel, and consequently dubbed him "Mayor of the Friend Zone."

The term picked up popularity in the mid-2000s, though has recently been dismissed by some as an indicator of toxic masculinity, whereby certain men can't possibly imagine the value of an attractive woman being, you know, a friend.

If you hate the term, blame Joey - or more aptly, the episode's writers, Jeff Astrof and Mike Sikowitz - because he started it all.

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.