Because that's how you feel when you look at them... like you can't breathe and you're being crushed. It's also the way you feel when the bastards tell you they're already married or don't fancy you....

It's usually a term used to describe a fancy for an unobtainable person - usually a film star or member of a pop band, a married friend or a fellow worker (never dip your pen in the company ink), someone you see often but cannot have.

Sometimes crushes can go on to be the real thing, but mostly they just last until the next handsome actor or gorgeous singer comes along. The trick is to recognise the fleeting nature of such and not let it suck you in completely. Many an angst ridden teenager has grown up to be a pragmatic adult who looks back and asks 'what did I see in him/her?!'

LTS