Multiple Meanings

Have you ever been at a party, sitting in class, lounging in the grass, or even walking through campus and overheard a conversation that you didn't want to? Did it go something like, "oh did you hear that so-and-so and so-and-so hooked up last night? Well, what does that mean? In college "hook up" can have a broad range of definitions which can be troublesome if you don't know what it means to the person you're talking to. On college campuses, you'll hardly hear the word "date," but "hook up" seems to be part of everyone's vocabulary.
After overhearing a conversation that I couldn't avoid, it made me think about the overuse of this phrase. Is certain behavior more easily acceptable because it can be described vaguely without showing actual intent of what you really meant?