A man and a woman cross paths. What does an extremely brief smile from the woman mean to the man?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you so much for your insights. I'm a bit clueless I guess. This is a big help.

-- OP

OP, thanks for asking! Too many men have overconfidence in their ability to read social cues from women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a guy. Every once in a while on the sidewalks of DC a woman I am passing will flash an extremely brief smile and eye glance -- like one-half second or less. Does this mean she's interested in me? I expect if she wasn't interested at all she would not look or smile at all. Thank you for your comments.

I've sometimes wondered about this too. I'm in NYC so it's not that common but it does happen, which is why I sometimes wonder. Men almost never smile and say hi to me. Could be that women are generally friendlier.

If the woman is of vastly different age group and/or a different race I assume she's being polite. If she's closer to my age and the same race I'm more inclined to think she may be flirting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It mean nothing. I smile at most people. I'm interested in my husband. Full stop. Not you. I'm just friendly.

Yes

[Anonymous]

It means the chili for lunch left an aftertaste. Or that the gravy stain on your tie matches the remains of yesterday’s dried coffee on your sleeve.

[Anonymous]

Hey OP, this has been a quite interesting thread.

90% smiling women replied, it means nothing.

10% replied they smile because they like you in some way and would actually want you to talk to them. (which I'm guessing it's a higher percentage than among non-smilers).

So, it all depends how brave and resilient you are

[Anonymous]

I smile at everyone, and I hope they pass it on.