Zeraph

for the title, i was trying to remember that saying...went something like ignoring the bright red...monster? on the carpet/floor/rug?

Anyways, on to the actual question. Sometimes I say things I shouldn't, especially online. For instance, I'm friends with this couple around my age, we were at a party, and I very jokingly flirted with his girlfriend. (things like "youll never get into my pants with that attitude!") She responded in kind, and we had a rise out of our friend. He also joked back, but I sensed some real jealousy there.

So a few days later we're chatting back and forth through an email, and I call attention to the fact I'd realized I hit a soft spot in his jealousy. Tried to reassure him that we were just kidding and I'd never do anything behind his back. So he ignores that paragraph completely in his response, and just responds to the stuff we'd been chatting about.

Now similar things have happened before. I'll be way more directly honest and straightforward than most people are used to, and sometimes they just out right ignore what I said.

Now my question, why do they ignore it? Is it because they disagree with me and secretly hate me for bringing it up? Or are they just too embarrassed to respond? Or they just don't think it needs a response?

I know it can have different answers based on the person and the conversation. But I'm not a subtle guy, I really don't understand the social subtleties. Like I can fake it, but it just doesn't make sense to me to not say what you mean. So maybe some wiser people can help me understand why some people just ignore things.