What is your definition for flirting?

Question

Where do you draw the line? Where does friendship end and flirting begin? How does your partner feel about you 'chatting' to other women/men online?

Do you see flirting as cheating or do you think it's innocent fun?

Answer 1

For all you know the person that you are "Supposedly" Flirting with online, maybe dog ugly and the total opposite of what you perceive them to be.

If you know the person (ie met them personally) then only can online "suggestive" chatting be perceived as flirting.

For the record, I have not met any person from this forum personally.

Answer 2

Flirting is like making up , and all so flirting is used when one is on line, and toking with the opposite s*x

Answer 3

Flirting is a form of human interaction between two people, expressing a sexual and/or romantic interest. It can consist of conversation, body language, or brief physical contact. It may be one-sided or reciprocated.

The origin of the word flirt is obscure. The Oxford English Dictionary (first edition) associates it with such onomatopoeic words as flit and flick, emphasizing a lack of seriousness; on the other hand, it has been attributed to the old French "Conter fleurette", which means "to (try to) seduce" by the dropping of flower leaves, that is, "to speak sweet nothings". This expression is no longer used in French, but the English gallicism to flirt has made its way and has now become an anglicism.

Flirting is often used as a means of expressing interest and gauging the other person's interest in courtship, which can continue into long-term relationships. Alternatively, it may simply be a prelude to casual s*x with no continuing relationship.

In other situations, it may be done simply for immediate entertainment, with no intention of developing any further relationship. This type of flirting sometimes faces disapproval from others, either because it can be misinterpreted as more serious, or it may be viewed as "cheating" if the person is already in a romantic relationship with someone else.

People who flirt may speak and act in a way that suggests greater intimacy than is generally considered appropriate to the relationship (or to the amount of time the two people have known each other), without actually saying or doing anything that breaches any serious social norms. One way they accomplish this is to communicate a sense of playfulness or irony. Double entendres, with one meaning more formally appropriate and another more suggestive, may be used.

Flirting may consist of stylized gestures, language, body language, postures, and physiologic signs. Among these, at least in Western society, are:

Eye contact, batting eyelashes, etc.

"Protean" signals, such as touching one's hair

Casual touches; such as a woman gently touching a man's arm during conversation

Smiling suggestively

Winking

Sending notes, poems, or small gifts

Flattery

Online chat is a common modern tactic, as well as other one-on-one and direct messaging services

Footsie, the "feet under the table" practice

Teasing

Chance meeting

While some of the subconscious signs are universal across cultures, flirting etiquette varies significantly across cultures which can lead to misunderstandings. There are differences in how closely people should stand (proxemics), how long to hold eye contact, and so forth.[1]

During World War II, anthropologist Margaret Mead was working in Britain for the British Ministry of Information and later for the U.S. Office of War Information,[2][3] delivering speeches and writing articles to help the American soldiers better understand the British civilians,[4] and vice versa.[5]

She observed in the flirtations between the American soldiers and British women a pattern of misunderstandings regarding who is supposed to take which initiative. She wrote of the Americans, "The boy learns to make advances and rely upon the girl to repulse them whenever they are inappropriate to the state of feeling between the pair.", as contrasted to the British, where "the girl is reared to depend upon a slight barrier of chilliness... which the boys learn to respect, and for the rest to rely upon the men to approach or advance, as warranted by the situation." This resulted, for example, in British women interpreting an American soldier's gregariousness as something more intimate or serious than he had intended.[2]

Communications theorist Paul Watzlawick used this situation, where "both American soldiers and British girls accused one another of being sexually brash", as an example of differences in "punctuation" in interpersonal communications. He wrote that courtship in both cultures used approximately 30 steps from "first eye contact to the ultimate consummation", but that the sequence of the steps was different. For example, kissing might be an early step in the American pattern but a relatively intimate act in the English pattern.[6]

Answer 4

I think flirting ends up in cheating when you touch the other person.

I do not chat to anyone online.

Flirtiing is part of being a woman, men love us to flirt and we as women love flirting.

Answer 5

Here is the line.

Your partner must not know.

It disrespectful to them.

Answer 6

Now this is the Question where men and woman would differ a lot. To me flirting would be a chat having a drink just the 2 of you. I am just as jealous as my ex was so any time alone with the opposite s*x would end up in a arument. Flirting as I discribe it is not cheating, but my dad went out with one of his work collages for a drink a lot, he admitted to kissiing her but sees that as flirting not cheating.

Answer 7

Innocent fun and in my opinion, it is a natural part of any complex social environment. Genuine flirting to me involves physical contact or telephone conversations, I hardly think communicating with people of the opposite s*x over the Internet or email is harmful to anyone unless so called dirty talk and sexual intentions comes into play.

My wife knows I use Y/A and communicate with many different contributors, including those of the opposite s*x, she does not mind as she does not suffer an inferiority complex and I also don't mind who she emails in her own time as I too have no inferiority complex.

Answer 8

I don't want my husband to forget that he is a darn good looking and interesting guy. I love watching woman slink up and flirt with him. We have eye contact from across the room and he can’t miss the huge grin that is wrapped around my ears. Flirting is fine but that is where it stays. It after all is simply a form of reassuring one's own self esteem. When we get home he says ‘do you know what that woman said to me?’ …..we end up laughing tears.  I fake jealousy often, and jokingly threaten to 'scratch that woman's eyes out'

I do not 'chat' or flirt on the internet with strangers. (what a precious waste of time) I chat on Skype....but that is with family and friends that I know in real life.