The fake crush

I noticed this past weekend that a lot of my friends (read: me and a lot of my friends) have developed what we like to call the "fake crush". My definition of a regular crush has always been for one person to develop affection for another person whom they totally could date but do not think they really and actually have a chance at dating. Generally, but not always, both parties are single.

This whole fake crush phenomenom opens up a new world of crushing. Because the whole point is that it would almost for surely never happen. Now people can have fake crushes on attached people, much younger or older people, and much cooler or hotter people than they would normally be able to admit. Personally, I think that more often than not the person has a regular crush but would never reveal it. The fake crush allows them to tell the world (even the fake crush themself) without putting themselves out there too much. And it also allows several friends to all have fake crushes on the same person without getting too jealous. It's just a fake crush after all.

My question is this. If two friends have a hardcore fake crush on someone, do they have to run it by the other if one of them actually gets a chance to date said crush? Or because it's fake (or so they say) should the party of interest be up for grabs?

I wonder if this is a localized thing, or if others have heard of the fake crush. It's not on the urban dictionary yet.

I wonder if anyone has a fake crush on me? I think I'd be honoured to be fake crushed on.