'Harmless' flirting......is there such a thing?

Depends where harmless flirting leads. If someone flirts, I assume more, regardless of what they think...

well done, gold star!

yes things can go wrong if the two people want different things but the same can be said of any kind of social interaction.

Talk about out-of-context quoting! lol

If you go on a flirting spree with random guys, how are they meant to know your intentions? They're not mind readers.

then your setting yourself up to get hurt/very embarrassed/kicked in the nuts

and you really cant blame the other person for your refusal to live in the real world

flirting with total randoms is just asking for trouble. flirting with people you know is usually just harmless flirting, it depends on the context of the flirting to how it should be interpretated. there are lots of contexts where flirting is fun and is obviously not crossing the line.

Yes. You had not mentioned the context uptill now.

My point was that both parties should understand the intention (or lack of) behind flirting.
Do you flirt with strangers?

:s I'm beginning to get a bit worried here.

I flirt a lot. And it doesn't even mean anything. Today, I was waiting for a train and there was a guy there, and we were making eye contact and smiling. And it made me feel good, because I felt like I was being told I was attractive, and I hope the same went for him. We didn't talk or anything, so maybe there's a line there, but it made me smile! =]

And then there's talking to guys working counters and things, and chatting to them and stuff. There's nothing wrong with flirting if there's no intention of taking it further. I'm single at the moment but I would honestly not think of anything if I were with someone and I'd been chatting to the guy I saw today at the train station. Just so long as if he'd uttered the immortal line 'can I take your number' or something like that and I'd said 'no, sorry, I have a boyfriend' what's wrong?



I think that depends. If the stranger is someone in a bar, or a friend of a friend you are likely to be spending a bit of time with, yes it can give mixed signals. If it is someone you're just bumping into; in a shop or a waitress in a restaurant, it's quite clear you aren't giving them the come on as you just walk away moments later.
Friends is usually quite safe ground as long as it's a) not more often flirting than normal friendly socialising, and b) someone you know quite well. I have people I call friends but certainly wouldn't just think they were being friendly if they sat on my lap or whatever else - we aren't close enough for that.

Flirting = good. It makes both parties feel attractive, which in turn is good for the relationship you're in. However, flirting in front of you partner to make them feel bad/jealous/etc isn't; that's hurtful. But come on, it's every man/woman for themselves out there, nothing wrong with a bit of harmful banter...
However, I'm now beginning to doubt this, everyone seems so anti-flirting?!

Is the flirting done by some shop assistants and bartenders acceptable? Harmless?

People who do these so called harmless flirting have serious issues.

As long as its harmless I don't see what the problem is. However a lot of the time it is not 'harmless' and is open to misinterpretation which can lead to hurt.

Oh, and for a), it's probably best that you're both single. I had a (male) friend that I would flirt with, and then when he got a girlfriend, I realised I had to come up with another way of communicating with him

I think there is such a thing as 'harmless flirting', but it can really only be done with either:

a) people you've known for a long time and have just settled into the sort of relationship where you know you're not going to be anything more than 'flirt buddies' (and you don't actually want to be anything more than that anyway)
b) people you don't know, and probably won't get to know any better than a bit of eye contact and shared smiles across, say, a shop counter