Wow, no wonder I can't get it straight. It means different things to so many people. What I heard here is all very very different.

if a man schedules time with me with the potential for romance or intimacy I consider it a date

doesn't have to be anything formal

Dating...American man style....

Shower and actually use soap.
Brush the tooth.
Sniff the pits to make sure I ain't too stinky.
Spit slick the hair back.
Break out clean underwear.
Put on the least wrinkly clothes from the hamper.
Go spend some money on some gal in the hopes of crazy monkey style sex.
Go home alone and masturbate to Gilligan's Island reruns.
Use the vaccuum cleaner hose attatchment to apply a hickey.
Go to work the next day and lie about how I got "lucky" to make all the married guys jealous.