A tease (he said)

Someone once told me I was a tease.

He wasn't talking about it in the sexual sense, although it was part of the banter between us.

It was more the way (I believe) that I deliberately let little pieces of information dribble out, withholding the main point.

Who, me?

I confess -- no point in not confessing, it was obvious.

And when there's a healthy energy between two people, as there was with us, it's all rather innocently playful.

Although I'm not a huge fan of email or messaging, I do believe that it is particularly malleable for that purpose.

But there is a darker side to virtual conversations.

Sometimes it's easy to assume you understand what someone else is saying, when in fact he or she could easily have meant something rather, quite, very different.

A rather demure flirtation can take an unseen turn -- and one partner in it finds that he or she is playing alone.

Sometimes people use the language of a second life when they can't quite manage direct communication in the first one.

Then there are the occasions when being a female online makes one feel vulnerable.

"Hey, sexxy lady," someone texted me over the weekend. When I politely asked the texter to identify themselves, I got back a few anatomically ridiculous but clearly obscene messages.

As I walked through our local glades, I was torn between fury, fear and a reluctant amusement.

Here's a guy (I assumed it was a guy) who can't even get obscenity right!

I know, that's a little kinky on my part -- but it goes with the territory of being a writer with deep interest in human behavior (and grammar).

A writer from New York who went to a prep school where sexually permissive behavior was common coin among certain faculty.

A writer who thinks that in an online world where people spill their guts all the time, maybe just a little discretion isn't a bad thing.

A writer who knows where to stop.

Often.

If you want to know more...send me an email, and I'll tell you -- a little at a time.