I don't mind "making love" so much, however I prefer
to call something what it is. "Making love" is good
for poetry; for simple exposition,
"having sex" is
to be preferred. Though I prefer the English way of
saying that, "sharing sex".
(Doesn't apply to masturbation,
obviously.) I think "sharing sex" would satisfy those who
definitely want the listener to hear the romantic emphasis.
Many people like
to reserve "making love" for romantic sex, and "fucking" for
sex driven by hormones or just as a heckuva fun form of
exercise.
(My comment about
euphemisms notwithstanding, I find "getting laid" to be
coarse enough, though possibly heading toward the other
extreme from romance.)
While I also desire the distinction, I dislike
using "fuck" to mean sex in general.
Fucking is a particular activity
which many sexual episodes, though by no means all[1], include.
Extending the word is like using "chew" to mean "dine", when it
is simply one of the procedures involved in the carrying out of
the whole experience. Taking "fuck" to mean, at its root, coitus
(the penetration of a vagina by a penis), gives us a very special
word. It is one of two verbs that describe copulation
(the other is left as an exercise to the student) and is the only
one that can be used transitively. And, of all the slang words
that people use (screw, ball, etc.), "fuck" is the only one that
(etymology aside) doesn't mean something else.
Fuck means to fuck!
But even for people who like the feeling of "making love", I
have a request:
Please don't say "making love to...".
Say "making love with..."!
If you're sharing one of the most wonderful gifts that we
humans have with another person who makes you
quiver when
e enters the room, don't make it sound like you hit
em
over the head with it!
[1] I despise the copping-out people
do when they claim that there is no sex in the absence of
fucking.
"She's got the sweetest pussy, and her blowjobs just about
kill me, but we're waiting until after the wedding to have
sex."
I don't know if this self-deception started with the infamous
President Bill Clinton, though I've certainly heard it a lot
more since he "did not have sex with that woman".