Textbook Definition: Closely related to the First Law of Demand, substitution occurs when the relative price of a good increases; e.g., if the price of butter rises, I "substitute" margarine for butter.
She-conomic Definition: Suppose I'm interested in two boys: Kurt and Mark. Suppose I go on one date with Kurt but learn that he is still romantically attached to his sister missionary girlfriend, and I also learn that he expects would-be girlfriends to make dinner for him on an every-other-day basis. From my perspective, the "price" of dating Kurt has gone up, because I now have to deal with his emotional baggage, as well as the financial and time costs of kitchen duties. In response, I "consume" fewer dates with Kurt and "substitute" toward Mark (i.e., start flirting with and spending more time with Mark--the substitute good.)
In my experience, substitution occurs all the time in dating--often times during the "crush incubation stage," before a guy and a girl ever even go on a date. So next time your roommate asks you why you haven't pursued Kurt (or Kristin, whatever the case may be), your answer is not, "I found his laugh unattractive," "he is insensitive to widows and children," or "he has no ambition." Quite simply, your budget constraint for Kurt shifted inward and consequently, the relative price of Mark decreased.
(*Kurt and Mark aren't real people, by the way. Nor are any of the names/people discussed on this blog.) Peace.
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