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I know that I came from a country where inventing words or phrase for something is common. I always hear this phrase when they say it:

you're so feeling close

to denote that someone pretends to be your close friend or vice versa. I'm not just that confident that the usage of this phrase is valid. I believe that we're the only one who used this.

A singled word or phrase will do.

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    There are many common words and phrases used, depending upon the intentions of the pretender. Including leech or false friend. Could you narrow down your requirements a little.
    – Chenmunka
    Commented Oct 10, 2016 at 12:22
  • Google Books claims 681 written instances of pseudo-intimate, but we need more context to know if that's an appropriate term for OP's requirements.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Oct 10, 2016 at 13:03
  • The person is overly familiar." The person is showing *false intimacy.
    – aparente001
    Commented Oct 11, 2016 at 3:58

2 Answers 2

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They are apparently trying to cosy up to you.

M-W:

cozy up intransitive verb
: to attain or try to attain familiarity, friendship, or intimacy : ingratiate oneself : cozying up to the boss

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  • Cosying up does not carry a connotation of pretence - as mentioned in the question.
    – Chenmunka
    Commented Oct 10, 2016 at 12:18
  • @Chenmunka: Not so - it often does. Note try to attain and ingratiate in the definition, and the contextual implications of the specific example cozying up to the boss (usually for career advancement, not because you like him! :)
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Oct 10, 2016 at 13:07
  • @FumbleFingers: I don't see that ingratiation is the same as pretence. More a sycophantic attempt to become a friend - a true friend. Especially if more normal opening encounters are spurned.
    – Chenmunka
    Commented Oct 10, 2016 at 13:56
  • @Chenmunka: Well, you can certainly "cosy up" to a family member, close friend, or (prospective?) sexual partner on the sofa, and hopefully there's no pretence there. But in the common-as-muck figurative usage where it's effectively a more euphemistic alternative to, say, brownnose, I think the implied lack of sincerity is practically a given.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Oct 10, 2016 at 14:02
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I wonder if such a "friend" might be classified as a fair weather friend? I suggest that any friendship extended by a fair-weather friend is merely superficial and ceases to be even that when any sincere friendship is tested and found to be wanting in times of trouble.

fair-weather friend: (BrE) Someone who is a good friend when it is easy to be one and who stops being one when you are having problems (Cambridge Dictionary).

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  • "My father taught me many things...He taught me -- keep your friends close but your enemies closer." Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part ll.
    – Peter Point
    Commented Oct 10, 2016 at 12:15

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