Maybe this is just the southern, traditional gender roles part of me speaking, but there's more to it than looking desperate. I, and I assume a lot of ladies, like to be the one pursued, asked out, moves made on, or whatever you wish to call it. I will be the first to say that I've hit on a guy, but it's not the role that I am used to playing. As an extension of not wanting to look desperate, maybe women will only give that one overt signal (I'm not talking about flirting, that is something a lot of females learn at a very young age) before they go back to their typical, comfortable role.
I really think that all depends on how strong the signal was. If a guy responded to every single girl who looked at him or if he loosely interpreted anything that could be a signal, there would be a lot of let down. I generally won't respond to a signal unless its absolutely apparent that she's making some sort of attempt.
If I'm really interested in a guy, I'll try three times. I figure two rejections can realistically be chalked up to missed signals or legitimate excuses. If he's not being receptive by the third attempt than I stop trying because at that point he's clearly not interested or, as someone else said a few posts back, is "too socially inept for my tastes." However, most of my other female friends aren't ballsy enough to make the first move once let alone three times, so I don't know if you can depend on that as a rule girls tend to do. That being said, if you realize you missed a signal after the fact, you should 100% try and go for it again. I think most girls recognize that occasionally everyone can be clueless and won't punish you for a delayed reaction.
I don't really use "signals." I take a direct approach- I'll ask a guy out or what's up. I don't chase anyone, just like clarity.
Let's cut the bullshit here and admit that this doesn't apply to probably 95% of guys out there. The vast majority of guys even if it isn't worth it put the pussy on a pedestal. I'm a good looking guy who's got his shit (a good portion of it anyway) together and sometimes even I'm not immune to this absurdity. Let us not forget the lesson of our friends Julius Caesar and Cleopatra.
Reading through the thread in more detail shows that some hints weren't really signals and now has me more confused than ever.
Some of you idiots need to take a page out of this book* *Just kidding, you're all a bunch of fugly mutants and should focus on science instead of women.
If a girl invited you over to her place one night but you bail on her because you had to work, and she's still bbming you all night says she's a little tipsy, then like 30 minites later says she needs someone to spoon with to fall asleep...could that be considered a missed signal? If so: "fuck"
It's happened to me a number of times, i'm just not very good at picking up these hints... why the fuck cant a girl just come out and say it straight up? Worst example: I had to take a 3 month course at my university of choice in order to get into the degree i wanted to do (my scores were 0.5 off the min entrance score but admissions had been really low so i got a break, provided i passed this course). The very first day i take a seat in the lecture hall and this cute little red head sits right next to me and introduces herself, we get chatting and end up being pretty close friends for the whole 3 month course. At no point did i realize our friendly chatting was actually flirtatious chatting... so she decided to take things into her own hands and on the last day, as i'm getting in my car, she says goodbye and hands me a piece of paper with a little sketch of me she had done (which was actually really bloody good). Like the idiot i am i just say "thanks, that's pretty awesome, see you around" and hop in my car. Fast forward about a year later and i'm going through a bunch of old uni shit, the sketch falls out of one of my binders and lands face down. On the back is written "Call me, you can do anything you want to me. Amy" and her mobile number... I called and explained how i only just saw what she had written on the back, she laughed and told me i was a moron and too late as she was now in a relationship. If only she had just bloody well told me instead of being all cutesy and shy with the fucking note and sketch... maybe some of the female board members can enlighten me as to how the fuck a girl that says she will let me do anything to her can get shy about the actual act of propositioning me? That shit boggles my fucking mind. 6 years on and i still haven't nailed a red head (a real one anyway).
So a hot chick made a drawing of you and you didn't bother to even look at it? Yeah, you got what you deserved, which was nothing.
I looked at the drawing, as i said it was really good, i just didn't catch on to what it meant (and i didn't turn it over). Believe me, i know i got exactly what i deserved for being such a fucking moron. In hindsight its painfully obvious how into me she was the entire time and i was absolutely fucking clueless.
Women in this thread, and as a whole, suffer from the delusion that their perspective on life is the only possible one, and thus regard whatever their take is on something to be the "obvious" one, regardless of the perspective of an objective observer. How do I know this? Because the following weren't signals: -Slipping a note that says "My boyfriend doesn't let me talk to other guys, what should I do?" -Coming up after class and complimenting me on something that in no way needed to be complimented. -"You should have come to [place] on Saturday, I got drunk and you could have taken advantage of me" I can give five viable explanations for every "hint" a woman claims is totally obvious.
At work at the moment, I'm getting all sorts of signals from one of our younger female casual staff ... verbal and otherwise. She would be cute .... if she lost about, ohhhhh ...... 80 pounds.