I did not actually comment on the use of the word.. I just said it was a common word.

But I will have to disagree with you and say that Japanese people do say 食事をする sometimes. But like I said before, this is a question for a native since neither of us can really have any authority over questions like this.

I know you didn't. Sorry, I wrote a short sentence before and it must have looked a bit terse. I also typo-ed I've as it's. *facepalm* I should be banned from the internet after 11pm i swear, all my typing skills go to shot.

Anyway I was just trying to add to the discussion, not trying to be all "HERE IS THE ANSWER RAWR!". I'm just saying in my experience it's much more common to see 食事 ~without~ をする than with. Come to it, maybe that's a written thing? Interesting...

Oh no worries man. I wasn't offended or anything. It is impossible to really tell what anybody's tone is online anyway.

is it more common to use 気が小さい or 気の小さい to describe a timid person?

also is 気がない more commonly used when compared to 気のない when describing an uninterested party

I'm sure you'll get an answer from Sashimister, but I'm gonna try to explain this to see if I grasp the concept myself. Take my answer with a grain of salt. I think in both cases it matters where the phrases are being placed in the sentence. If you're using 気が小さい to modify a noun that's following it (i.e. 気が小さい人) then you should use 気の小さい [気の小さい人]. This isn't required, but I've been told it sounds more natural and it also sounds softer. You can still use 気が小さい and be right, and I imagine it sounds better in certain places, but if it does that's a much more advanced topic than you or I need to be worried about at the moment. The same thing goes for 気がない. If you're using it to describe a word directly following it in the sentence, then say 気のない人.

If you're saying 'That person is timid' or 'I'm uninterested', then you would say あの人は気が小さい。 僕は気がない。 This is how I understand the differentiation, but obviously you should wait for someone much more talented than I to give you a definitive answer.

That was pretty accurate.

thanks for the detailed reply duo =P

anyway i was wondering is 友人 a formal version of 友達. in what situations would i be using the word 友人?

Believe me, this is my third attempt to answer this question. I failed the last two times because exceptions kept coming to mind while writing and the posts got too big and confusing.

The shortest answer will be this. 友人 is more formal than 友達.

When talking about a second friend with your friend, you use 友達.
If you (an 18-year-old) are writing a compo for school about a fiend, use 友人.
If you're introducing a friend to your family or other friends, use 友達.
If you're introducing a friend to someone that isn't so close to you, use 友人.
友人 is usually not even in the vocabulary of a 7-year-old kid.

I'm forcing myself to stop here. Why are you even asking this?;) I'd need about 20 pages to explain this. Have you even started speaking Japanese in complete sentences? If not, don't worry too much about this. This is something you will be learning through lots of reading and speaking and making mistakes.

EDIT: Adding one more line. This is about the classical 訓読み words vs. 音読み words issue.

I agree, at some point you need to put the dictionary and grammar book down for a moment, and just get out and start talking to people. Your best lessons in the long run will be the ones you learn on your own through experience.

I feel that this issue ends up getting resolved by an internal understanding of honne and tatemae, just like issues with keigo, honorifics, etc. get settled.

With time, an understanding of each of these comes.