Flirtations

I thought I had lost my flirt and this concerned me so much that I looked up ‘Flirting’ on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia, says on flirting, the following:

Flirting is a common form of social interaction whereby one person obliquely indicates a romantic or sexual interest towards another. It can consist of conversation, body language, or brief physical contact. It may be one-sided or reciprocated (encouraged) with intentions of getting to know that person on a higher level. Flirting may involve speaking and acting 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. This may be accomplished by communicating a sense of playfulness or irony. Double entendres, with one meaning more formally appropriate and another more suggestive, may be used. 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.

Wikipedia goes on to list the types of flirting which is useful as I was able to check in minute detail if my flirt had really disappeared.

TYPES OF FLIRTING

1. Eye contact, batting eyelashes, staring, winking, etc. (batting? batting? I flutter mine occasionally and only ever ever wink at humans under the age of two.)
2. "Protean" signals, such as touching one's hair. (hands up to this one but I am sure it is just a habit and it has nothing to do with flirting)
3. Giggling, or laughing encouragingly at any slight hint of intimacy in the other's behavior. (hmmm, I am always laughing. But that is because most of my friends are very funny, and intimacy covers quite a lot of human interaction)
4. Casual touches; such as a woman gently touching a man's arm during conversation. (I keep touching my friend Gs leg but that is because the booths at work are very small and he is a big guy. I also try to touch C a lot as we are trying to encourage her to be tactile!)
5. Smiling suggestively (I smile a lot but suggestively? what does that look like? I suppose it's in the eyes and not the mouth.)
6. Sending notes, poems, or small gifts (is this flirting? Sharing thoughts, ideas and experiences or treating a friend to a little gift is surely just friendship?)
7. Flattery (regarding beauty, sexual attractiveness). (I do this all the time, to both men and women. But is that flirting? I just want some people to feel good about themselves.)
8. Online chat, texting and other one-on-one and direct messaging services (I have not done this for a long long time and when I did I never considered it flirting. Flirting suggests an innocence that I never had when I engaged in this activity)
9. Footsie, a form of flirtation in which people use their feet to play with each others' feet. This generally takes place under a table or in bed while rubbing feet. Participants often remove their shoes and play barefoot; however, it can also be played in socks, or wearing shoes. (I have NEVER done this. They may not have nice feet)
10. Teasing (I have never been able to tease.)
11. Staging of "chance" encounters (Isn’t this stalking as opposed to flirting?)
12. Imitating of behaviors, e.g. taking a drink when the other person takes a drink, changing posture as the other does, etc. (This is an unconsious one, maybe I do this. But if you admire someone you may imitate their behaviour without meaning to flirt. I will have to check this one out.)
13. Coyness, affectedly shy or modest, marked by cute, coquettish, or artful playfulness, e.g. pickup lines. (I blush… what can I say.)
14. Giving flying Kisses. (This is also something I only do to humans under a certain age.)
15. Singing love songs in presence of the Girl/Boy. (I would NOT do this if I wanted to attract someone! My voice would have the totally opposite effect from flirting.)
16. Maintaining very short distance during casual talking. (I am not comfortable with people ‘in my space’…unless it is in a booth of course)

From this list I am able to deduce that I haven’t actually lost my flirt. I have never actually had a flirt in the first place. This is a relief as, along with being responsible for the occasional loss of memory (what was I going to write today?), I thought the ‘change’ may have taken away my ability to flirt.

So that's alright then.