What is the sidewalk rule? The TikTok trend explained

30 March 2022, 14:42

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By Jazmin Duribe

If he doesn't follow the sidewalk rule… sorry, we don't want him.

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Everyone knows that there's only two ways to check if your partner truly loves you or not. You could actually just ask them (but where is the fun in that!?) or you could take your case to the relationship gurus on TikTok.

People on TikTok are always thinking of innovative ways to test the strength of their relationships. Case in point, the Strawberry Question, which involved people asking their partners to answer a series of questions about whether or not they would jump a fence into a field of strawberries and steal some of the fruit if they were hungry.

But now it's time for a new relationship test: the sidewalk rule. While dating in 2022 seems to have become an extreme and tortuous sport, the sidewalk rule is supposed to let people know that there's still some good eggs out there. Here's what the sidewalk rule actually means.

What is the sidewalk rule?

In case you didn't know, the sidewalk rule is the latest viral TikTok trend that shows how chivalrous your boyfriend really is. Urban Dictionary describes it as: "When a man and a woman are dating, the man walks on the part of the sidewalk closer to the street and the woman walks on the inside of the sidewalk further from the street."

You might not know it, but long before TikTok, etiquette says that all men should walk on the outer side of the sidewalk, closest to the cars. The thought behind it is that the man is protecting their significant other from oncoming danger from the road.

So if your boyfriend or crush always abides by the sidewalk rule, he's definitely marriage material. But if your boyfriend doesn't do this for you then… well, it might be time to cut him loose.

People are now sharing if their boyfriends are aware of the sidewalk rule or not, or are simply confused about the meaning completely.