Twenty years ago, a few desperate singletons signed up for a new dating experience. Today, a staggering one in five relationships and one in six marriages begins on the internet.

People talk about dating, mating and relating, all while never using those terms. Here's lingo to decode today's dating practices.

More than three-quarters of the people who had deceived a partner about money said it damaged the relationship.

Life and Style columnist Lee Suckling tackles your modern etiquette and ethical predicaments, one reader-submitted query at a time.

They've survived two health crises - including breast cancer - and now Anne and Al Gourley are battling the pain barrier on Our First Home.

Fashion designer Denise L’Estrange-Corbet and her daughter Pebbles answer your agonising questions.

Adults do like to tell you how fun dating in your 20s is. But for me, dating in my 20s has been about as much fun as colonic irrigation, writes Verity Johnson.

Do you go au natural around your partner, chat to them while naked and do their laundry? You've officially hit the comfort zone.

Red roses remain the most popular traditional Valentine's Day gift, say florists stocking up for weekend sales as suitors scramble to express their enduring love.

"The blood-soaked conspiracy of Valentine's Day, driven by the oppressive chocolate capitalists, has arrived once again," declared the group.

A heartfelt birthday message from Johnny Cash to his beloved wife June has been voted the greatest love letter of all time.

People who Facebook-post frequently about their relationships actually have better relationships than people who don't assault their friends, research suggests.

Is love just a troublesome artifice we've created for ourselves, or a fundamental part of human existence, to be cherished even when it hurts us?

Staff at a chain of DIY hardware stores in London have been told to read Fifty Shades of Grey and prepare for a massive rise in demand for rope, cable ties and tape.

Serial killer Charles Manson's supposed budding romance with a woman 53 years his junior is off after it emerged she just wanted his corpse for display.

The film release of Fifty Shades coincides with Valentine's Day on Saturday, so online Kiwi bondage and discipline store Khandikane is stocking up on whips and blindfolds again.

Should we be an open book all the time to our nearest and dearest? Does the definition of nearest mean there should be no secrets between you?

The two Christchurch office workers who unwittingly put on a public sex show have stayed away from work today.

In 2015 it is still considered acceptable to define women by their relationship with men, writes Dana Johannsen.

What a creepy display from the patrons of the Carlton pub in Christchurch who group-watched and broadcast a free live sex display to the world, writes Pam Corkery.

When I first met Velvel, he was peeking out from a cardboard box in the back seat of my boyfriend’s Saturn wagon.

Malcolm Jondahl looked up at his bride-to-be and said sorry. The 35-year-old from Whangarei was minutes from exchanging vows with his partner of three years when he collapsed at the creekside venue of their wedding in rural Northland.

I've been using the service for 24 hours, and I gotta wonder: How can you not fall in love with him? writes Caitlin Dewey.

Being cheated on is betrayal of trust - the knowledge that the rules were broken. It hurts a lot, writes Jill Goldson.

I don't get excited about the adventure of going to a fantastic location, I worry about how much I'll miss my little kids. It's pathetic, writes Matt Heath.

A stuntman and his fiancee have won a $70,000 dream wedding after shedding a combined 28kg in a ZM radio competition.

A Northland couple had a dramatic start to married life after the groom had to be brought back to life minutes before exchanging vows with his beloved.

Meanwhile, the safest position is also the most traditional one.

Couples in a rural town in Denmark have agreed to try to have more babies over the next few years as part of a deal with the council to keep public services running.