Singaporean Millennials are known to be a little shy when it comes to dating. Though more young Singaporeans are using dating apps, most of us date within our friend circle.
But when you develop a crush on a friend, it can be difficult to confess your feelings for fear of ruining the friendship. Instead of coming straight on, many Singaporean girls then prefer to ‘test the waters’ by dropping hints.
However, this tactic can backfire because some Singaporean guys are blur sotongs. If you’re one of those dudes who only finds out much later their crush liked them back, do yourself a favour and learn how Singaporean girls drop hints when they’re too shy to confess.
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In the age of Whatsapp and Telegram, emojis are a way for Singaporean Millennials to express their feelings. For girls, sending a heart emoji to a close girlfriend or a family member is easy, but sending heart emojis to a guy takes the texting relationship to the next level.
Not all emojis are ‘flirty’ emojis. Most of the time, girls use excessive emojis to emphasise a point or to appear more friendly when texting people they’re not close to. Examples of friendly emojis are:
But if she sends you any or a combination of these four emojis:
HELLO WAKE UP YOUR IDEA SHE OBVIOUSLY LIKES YOU. The more emojis in the row she sends, the more she likes you.
Another sign is adding cute emojis next to your contact name. Girls usually add emojis to the names of best friends, boyfriends, or guys they like.
If you see your name with one of these hearts next to it, there’s a pretty good chance she’s into you.
But if you see these, know that you’re just a walking dildo to her.
If a girl is interested in you, she’ll compliment you on just about everything.
From commenting how nice you are as a person to noticing the effort you’ve put into styling your hair, she’s your biggest cheerleader.
Typically, Singaporean girls want guys to make the first move. She might signal her interest by smiling at you, lingering her gaze, or sending coy looks your way.
But the most obvious sign is when she looks at you when you’re both in a group and everyone’s laughing at a shared joke. It’s been proven people will look at the person they feel closest to or most attracted to when a group laughs.
In Singapore, there is a culture of hugging friends. But the unspoken rule is when a guy and girl who aren’t dating hugs, the guy would execute the one-arm bro hug.
The bro-hug between guys and girls usually starts at Step 2.
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Guys, y’all know what I’m talking about. It’s how you awkwardly and gently pat girls on their backs when they go in for hugs and maintain a ‘safe distance’.
Girls know guys do this, so usually, they’ll go for the side-arm hug or manoeuvre their bodies to avoid pressing their boobs against a guy’s chest.
But if a girl is into you, she’ll want to be physically close to you. With the guy she likes, a girl usually makes sure to hug him when she says ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’. Even if he doesn’t reciprocate the hug, she’ll always offer a legitimate two-armed hug where both your shoulders fit into one another.
The oldest trick in the book is to ‘casually’ ask in a group conversation, “Oh handsome-guy-I-have-feelings-for, what’s your ideal type?”.
Normally used by girls who have little dating experience, this strategy is the most low-risk way to suss out whether they stand a chance with their crush.
Bonus: Some girls would get their good friend to ask them what their ideal type is in front of their crush. If you’re a guy and realise a girl is describing you in a seemingly lackadaisical manner, it’s a big sign she’s waiting for you to put two and two together.
Don’t be like this bro:
Be like this bro:
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She’ll probably remember the blue shirt you wore once in class, two semesters ago. (“Oh yes I know, I saw your IG story post from 247 days back.”)
Successfully reading her body language is the first step to mastering the art of conversational flirting. It gives you an indication whether she wants to talk to you in the first place.
Take note if she puts down her bag, shows no signs of wanting to leave or have you go away. It’s a good sign if she laughs a lot, faces toward you, relaxes her body, tilts her head and looks at you with a slightly lowered head.
But there’s a difference between friendliness and flirtation. The latter demonstrates she wants to spend more time with you than deemed socially necessary.
If she gives you conversation prompts or asks follow-up questions, she just might be polite. But if she carries on the conversation when it has clearly come to an end or gives you an expectant look when there are lulls in the exchange, it’s probably a signal of interest.
Speaking of body language, her body language will shift around you to show she’s interested.
Conscious or not, she might twirl her hair, bite on her lips, put her hands on her face, or cross and uncross her legs repeatedly. And if she’s really paying attention to you, she’ll mimic your body language.
Girls stalk guys because they’re bored, curious to see if he’s hot or to imagine how your future babies might look like. It’s not hard to figure it out.
Blame it on K-drama or Hollywood movies for making girls all around the world pull this trick.
Movie scenario:
Girl: I dreamt that we were walking by the beach yesterday and we were holding hands just like a couple hahaha isn’t that funny?
Guy: Why is that funny? I’ve wanted always wanted to tell you, I really like you.
Girl: *faints in his arms*
In reality:
Girl: I was talking to my friend that day and OMG it’s so funny because they asked if we were a couple.
Guy: HAHAHA us? Weird. Can’t imagine it.
Girl: Okay. *friendship ruined*
It’s either Singaporean guys don’t recognise this as a sign of interest, or, more likely, y’all just don’t know how to steer the awkward situation, even if you do like her back.
The closer the friendship, the bigger the sabotage. When a girl is with her group of friends and they spot you, they’ll possibly start laughing amongst themselves, or not-so-discreetly tap the girl who’s interested in you to tell her you’re there.
If the girl is really shy, she might hide behind her friends, or give you an awkward “hi”.
If her best guy friend comes up to you and ‘casually’ brings her up in a conversation along the lines of, “How do you find xx?”, it’s a good chance he’s trying to figure out how you feel about her.
Some might say it’s difficult to tell if a girl likes you because of the mixed signals. But signs of flirting are meant to be intentionally ambiguous. If someone is flirting, they’d want positive feedback before they escalate their actions.
As the saying goes, “It takes two to tango”. If you’re one to shy away from a girl who’s making eye contact, make the effort to give her a friendly smile and one-up her by leaning closer to her, and see how that goes.
This article was first published on 13 March 2018 and last updated on 14 November 2023.
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