the fuse

[dot_fennel]

I do believe I'm being flirted with. Hard to be sure, though. The question is, if someone seems really shy but keeps doing things that raise your eyebrows slightly (fingertips on the arm to say goodbye, reminding you about things you said offhandedly six weeks ago that you hoped you'd remember to do eventually), does the shyness make the actions more significant, or less?

I tend to figure that a shy person ends up seeming flirtily intentional when they're just going out of their way not to be shy, and thus one shouldn't make too much of it. And yet.

Comments

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

if someone seems really shy but keeps doing things that raise your eyebrows slightly [...], does the shyness make the actions more significant, or less?

More. At least, speaking as a shy person (honest!) those seem like flirtatious behaviors to me. (Though it's true that my shy behaviors come off as flirtatious to some people -- staring at the table, smiling, staring at the table, laughing, looking up through my eyebrows, etc., etc., and nobody seems to be able to actually tell when I'm flirting madly.)

I suppose the proper thing to do (if you're interested) is to respond in kind. If the behaviors are intended as flirtatious, then they'll be interpreted as flirtatious; if they're intended as trying-to-get-over-my-shyness friendly actions, then they'll be seen as friendly actions. Whatever that person's social semaphore is, use it, and it'll probably escalate whatever they're doing into something a little more easily interpretable.

[harlequinaide.livejournal.com]

You flirt? No way. ;-)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Shush! It's true, I do. It just looks like my daily behavior. Maybe I smile too much. :)

I think I tend to make more eye contact when I'm flirting, because to me it feels like a signal for "I'm concentrating on you".

[rednikki.livejournal.com]

You're being flirted with.

Lunch Friday?

if (shy == tafk) then {pope == Jewish)

[pseydtonne.livejournal.com]

Wait, it couldn't be our fair Tafkar that had been flirting with you. We love you, tafk, but you're shy like hand grenades.

Hi everybody, by the way. Florida is muggy but not unbearable when there's this lovely breeze. I went to Kennedy Space Center, where I got fascinated again. I had missed that feeling that space was worth checking out. (Fewer advertisers up there, too.)

Maggie and I are driving back starting tomorrow. Does anyone know of a good way to avoid coughing up a lot of tolls on the way through Maryland? Anyone try the other bridge across the Susquehanna on US 40?

I have lots of stories. Just y'all wait...

-burned but not in pain, Dante

Re: if (shy == tafk) then {pope == Jewish)

[dot_fennel]

Wait, it couldn't be our fair Tafkar that had been flirting with you.

That wasn't who I was talking about in my post, but it's such a popular misconception that I shall have to insist she flirt with me in the future to maintain backward compatibility.

The original post was about a Crash Squadder named R Bramble. I don't know that anyone likely to read this has met her.