the love word is something very sacred to me. i said it to my ex and though things ended badly i was with him for three years and when we said it we both meant it.
recently i dated a guy for two months. he said i love you on the third date! and while i know sometiems in very special cases it happens with some people it freaked me out! i told him i couldnt just say it back it was something i had to feel and it was very important and i wouldnt lie. he said it was ok but looked wounded everytime i didnt reciprocate -- but it made me see things clearly -- love means more than say sex and chemistry you have to know the person and like the good and the bad and with him it jsut wasnt there... so i broke it off.
long story --- well long... love is very sacred.

I try not to misuse the word. I haven't said it often, and every time I have said it, I meant it.

But looking back, some of the time what I really meant was "I'm head over heels for you" or "I'm falling in love with you."

I guess now I don't think of true love as those giddy feelings. I think of it as what keeps you with the person after that's all calmed down.

I don't regret saying it to anyone though.

I am defiantly with Charolette from Sex and the City on this one.

I think you have ONE true love in your life. You may think you love someone now, break up and get with someone else you fall in love with but you may realize you werent in love with that other person to begin with.

I'm with my one true love.

I don't really mind using it, for me "I love you" doesn't mean much (or I keep it for friends) while "I'm in love with you" means more.

To be fair a lot of times I ended up either saying it or wanting to say it because I were dating guys who were totally freaked out by the word, and it was just so tempting to see what they would do if I said that.

I like to think I'm a little bit of both. I don't believe in hiding my feelings and reminding people how much they mean to me by telling them but...

I also don't use it as often as someone saying "good morning..."

I've only said "I love you" to two people in my life. (besides my parents, brothers and best friends) The first was my high school boyfriend and while I thought I meant it then I think now that I was too young to know what true love really is. NdHerbert - I am definitely with Charlotte on this one too. There was another guy I thought I was in love with, but then afterwards realized I wasn't. The other person I've said it to is my true love - my current boyfriend. We say it as often as we can because you never know what can happen. I love saying it to him because I feel like we have been through so much together that it has made our relationship stronger. We have definitely been tested a lot and the fact that we have lasted makes our bond more solid and makes those words mean a lot more

If i feel like I love someone, I say it. I like feeling in love with someone.

I've said it to 2 long-term boyfriends, my best-guy friend of 7 years, and my fiance. total if 4x's.

when I'm casually dating and don't know how to espress my feelings, I just say things like "it's fun being with u" or "you're great to hang out with"

meh! guys dont care if you dont. lol.

i've only said "i love you" to one boy. turns out i didn't really love him. then, there was one boy who i wanted to say it to. i never did cuz i thought it would scare him. he broke my heart anyway. so now i'm super-guarded about even thinking about using it. it's not a phrase i like to throw around...except for my girlfriends. i love them and i tell them regularly. =)

For me, saying "I love you" is very easy since I grew up surrounded with people who genuinely express love and affection. I grew up hearing it and being shown. And because I'm the kind of person who needs to let off whatever feelings or emotions, especially positive ones like love and affection, I express it verbally and I get the love back all the time----as in, all the time.

I used to wear my heart on my sleeve. But after I got burned by my ex-fiance, it took me a whole year and a half to finally say it to my current boyfriend. Thinking back, I think I was a little too hasty to have said, "I love you" to anyone of my exs. I said it prematurely without fully understanding what it meant.

I'm very guarded with the L word. The first time was with my first love, which lasted for about 4 years. We might have been young, but I believe it was true love so it was definitely sacred. After him, I found it hard to say the word love -- or even think about it! I dated a younger guy after my first love & I broke it off for good. This guy threw the love word around a lot & it made me so uncomfortable. How could he be in love with me so soon? That didn't work out & I stayed single for a while. Then, I started dating a good friend of mine. We "talked" for 5 months before officially becoming a couple. It took us another 10 months before we said "I love you" to each other. 10 freakin' months! Haha. But I'm glad I waited & guarded my heart -- because now I know I really do love him. I didn't feel pressured or rushed. I had time to completely get over my first love & be on my own.

See I thought you meant "lesbian." I'm more comfortable with that L word.

I'm a little guarded when it comes to the L word. I don't say it too soon. I wait until I truly feel that I love the person. It doesn't necessarily have to be 'the one' for me to feel love for that person.

I only say it if I really mean it. I don't like throwing it around. It just makes it meaningless.

I've only said it to 2. My ex of almost 4 years and my hubby now going on 3 years... I say what I feel that's just it.

I have only ever said I love you to two men.
The first was my ex who I dated for 2 years...and I think we mis-used the word a lot AND I think we both said it too soon.

The second is with my current love of my life He said it to me, pretty early (on my b-day haha in a bathroom!) but I knew he meant it and wanted to say it for a little while. And I feel the same. I really do love him.

We say it when we hang up most of the time...a quick I love ya...and sometimes when we are laying together I just get an urge to tell him I love him and I really do mean it. Or he will say it to me when we are cuddling in bed or something.

I've said it to guys I thought I loved, two to be exact... But it turned out I didn't love them. So now I say it to my parents, family, and bff's, that's it. I can't wait for the day when I'll say it and mean it and it turns out to be reciprocated!!

I think it depends on the situation, but I have been in love lots of times and have told the people. I don't think it has ever really burned me, so I guess I am more of a heart on the sleeve type gal.

ive only been inlove twice. and it took time for me to say them. but once theyre out, i say it lots.

i'll tell family i love them. but, the real love word is reserved only for my guy.

remedios: too funny because i thought the same thing when i read the tagline. my rooommate and i have been watching it and are now addicted.

but back to the question. i can count on one hand the number of people to whom i have said "love." out of those people, one was truly the complete love of my life so far. i loved the others very much when i said it.

i still love two of those people now, even if i'm not in a relationship with them anymore. but am not "in love," if you are one of those, like me, who believe that distinction exists.

am currently thinking my new beau may hear those words soon. if i do, it will still be less than 5...

I think it's easy to mistake infatuation with love. I also think you may feel a kind of love for someone w/o being in love, if that makes sense. I have a deep caring and appreciation for a couple ex-boyfriends, but not love. I didn't know what love really was until I met my boyfriend. They say that love hits you and you "just know" a person is exactly right for you. I never believed that was true. I even inwardly felt sorry for people who clung to the hope that true love would come their way. I guess you could say I was highly skeptical of the word love.
But love really does feel like a rebirth. You feel like your life is just starting when you are in love. Like you've been waiting on the right moment to grow up. Like you've been blessed with a gift of always having someone you can turn to. It really is a gift to wake up in the middle of the night and reach out longing for someone to be there...and then to find someone reaching out to you at the same exact moment. It's a rush of emotion.
Love isn't all petals and pink. It's scary to have it and it's even scarier to think you'll ever lose it.
The saying, "I love you, but I don't have to like you right now." is a saying I find to be true.
Love is hard because you are trusting someone to take care of your heart, not to break it. Love is blind because you believe that person could never do anything to break you heart. Love is finding out that after the rose glasses are removed you still love the truth behind them.

I love you is serious it requires committment. I think people use it to mean Ilike you a lot or you're cute or sexy or gee maybe we should eb together for a while. I was always taught that love is the ultimate and that you can't just throw it around in any situation without being sure that the person you say it to means more than the world to you. I only tell people I love them if I would be willing to sacrifice myself for them and there are truly only a handful of people in the world I feel that way about

I've said it once and got burned really badly. I'm still not over it yet, and don't know how long it will take me to get over it. I just have to take each day at a time and hope that I can get through it.

Hmm.
I have said it when I didn't quite mean it but then I did grow to mean it?

Looking back everytime I've said it I believed it at the time to an extent. What does love mean anyway?

I know I'm in love now but only because of bad previous relationships shaking me up a lot. It's a difficult one.

My boyfriend is the ONLY person I say "I love you" to. When I was maybe around 12 or 13 I stopped using the word altogether, my mother would tell me she loved me before bed and I would just say "you too" and eventually just smile or do/say nothing at all. It just felt wrong using it, so when I told my boyfriend I loved him it was after this really amazing exchange via IM and E-mail (no real phone access) while I was away in Ireland with him implying that those sort of feelings for me where there but not outright saying it, which got me all bothered (which I think was his intention)... then I came home and finally saw him, and he told me he loved me and I freaked out and almost had a panic attack before finally saying it back. Wasn't freaking out because the feeling wasn't mutual, I'd just built up this block about saying those words in my head...

So, yeah... I only say it when I really, REALLY mean it.

I say "I love you" to my family. And, I've said it to two other men thinking what I felt was love but really, it was nothing more than a love for the attention. I was naive and even reluctant to say it because I didn't really feel it. I more or less said it out of guilt and obligation. Fortunately, I grew up and learned the true meaning of the word. Someone else here already described it as I would describe it. Love for a one true love...after finding him, I do wear my heart on my sleeve and say it to him on a daily basis. I love him like I've never loved before. The word is sacred to me, now.

I don't have a problem saying the L word to anyone who I feel deserves it.

I tell my close friends and family I love them every time I see them or hang up the phone. It's important that the people I'm around know how I feel about them. With the guys I date, I try to keep in mind that at the beginning of the relationship things are fun and new and what feels like love may not actually be love. I tend to hold off telling my partner I love them until several months into a relationship when I have a better understanding of who they are, where they are in life, and what they see in our future together.

I really don't see the big deal with the word...I say it to everyone. I'm not freaked out by people saying it to me, either. I think everyone should say it more often-- spread the love~!

I think it's an important word, but I also think that it doesn't need to be said for someone to show it (which I prefer actions over words any way).

I say it to my family, my friends, and my best friend, but I have only said it to my current boyfriend of almost 2 years, which took me almost a year to muster up the thought (which I couldn't get out!) before he put me out of my misery and just said, "it's all right. i love you, too." What a relief that he figured out what I was thinking!

There were times when I thought I wanted to say it, but I'm glad I never did. It made that first time all that more special.

its over used in all the wrong ways.

I think I have over used the L word. I guess I always thought I did when I said it, but then maybe it ended and started up again for someone else? Oh well. I have also said it just to please someone. I sensed people saying it to me in a sort of reflexive way as well in my life. All too soon. Then also I get that from my family which is completely different than a love you for a guy. I guess I'm a bit guarded now. I tell my son all the time. That's nice.

I love you means little to nothing to me. How can a simple phrase that is essentially a combination of sounds that act as a communication medium is so bloody important to relationships. It frustrates me that it’s such a big deal. Everyone has a different value attached to this phrase so when you say it how do you know that when they return it you are getting the same thing you want to communicate back. Love is a blanket word covering so many different feelings. Being empathetic, feeling attracted, caring about someone, being attached to someone. How do you know that when you say I love you, they are feeling the same thing you are? I can guarantee they don’t as everyone feels something slightly different.

Also when I hear stories of those saying I said I love him but he has not said it back…maybe his value behind that phrase is a lot more than hers and he does not want to commit himself forever and ever when he is not ready and she doesn’t even feel that same way.

I don’t expect my partner to ever say she loves me, I hope to see her prove it through the way she acts and what she says not just on one bloody phrase. I really don’t see it as being that important I would rather spend my time enjoying my relationship and caring for my partner instead of pondering over if the complicated mix of feelings is the same thing as “loving someone” or admitting it as that has so many different values and meanings.

I apologise for any typo’s I did not read over this as I am in a rush.

Stop worrying about saying “I love you” and start loving them.

Anonymous. I like your comment. I read a book once that said love is just a concept. It could be true if you think about it. However you have to have faith that some people say what they mean, and mean what they say. They are not the intellects who can ponder and wonder in such depth. They simply feel and say so. Perhaps this can give us some hope and less skepticism in the world.