Is it correct to say I'm asking a friend of mine out (we're both heterosexual and male) when the purpose is just to meet him and talk?
Thefreedictionary.com defines "ask out" as:
to invite (someone) to a social engagement.
Which seems to to mean it's correct to say that.
On the other hand, MacMillan Dictionary defines as:
to invite someone to go with you to a cinema, restaurant etc because you want to start a romantic or sexual relationship with them
So which is correct?
Edit: And if "ask out" necessarily means romance, then what wording to use that doesn't have that connotation?
Best Answer
You shouldn't use "ask out" unless you're talking about a romantic date. There are other ways to say things that don't have these unwanted connotations. (I would use Jim's suggestion from the comments and say I "asked if they wanted to go somewhere".)
The usage (gathered via Google) seems to agree with this:
Note that I included the "to" because it helps exclude irrelevant results like "asked out of the blue".
Notice how few results there are for "asking out" the same sex? And several of those results are clearly homosexual. Presumably, if it was used platonically, you would have more results for those two searches.