Labels

Something (sort of) funny happened yesterday, as I was playing with my Facebook profile: I suddenly got the inspiration to get rid of the word "Single" on my "Relationship Status". The reason behind the madness: I happen to have more and more professional contacts on Facebook and I like to idea of keeping the private life a little blurry.
So, here I am, about to click on the blank section that really doesn't say anything when I suddenly remember what happened to a friend of mine, not that long ago: she ended-up with a "XYZ is no longer single" on her Newsfeed; stricto-sensus, that would be true. But behind the words themselves there is the meaning that people give them: if she's no longer single that means she's now in a relationship.
I was very proud of myself for remembering that and decided to try to be smarter than Mr. Facebook himself. What I say to you should be as close as possible in meaning to what I want to say to the world. So browsing through my limited options I finally find something that seems safe and vague enough: "It's complicated". That means anything and nothing, you can put all the meaning in the world behind it but at the same time, you don't really know what's going on. Perfect. My smile of satisfaction disappeared as soon as I saw on my Newsfeed: "Audrey is now in a relationship and it's complicated". What? No! All I have left to do is some serious damage control now... Thank you Facebook!

Facebook is like any human being: interpreting and deforming everything we're saying... and repeating it to everyone else! But then, it brought me to a different kind of questioning: I wondered about the importance to put labels on people. How important is it to know what their Relationship Status is? Does it make us feel more comfortable in our interaction with them? Do we act differently with someone Single, someone In a Relationship, someone Engaged?
And, after all, what does it really mean to be Single anymore? The meaning behind the word can differ from person to person, can't it? Once again, stricto-sensus, it should mean: "Not being in a relationship" but that send me back to another question: what does it mean to be "In a relationship"? If there a definition by the book?
Why do we need to put people and relationships in little labeled boxes?