It's basically flirting with no strings attached...no intention of asking the person out....no intention of a relationship. It's flirting that is NOT meant to be analyzed or taken seriously.
all this hoopla jst because of a harmless little thing called flirting. tsk tsk tsk.
shakes head and walks away
The thing is, playful "good humor" flirting is not always analyzed as such. There are soo many posts in this forum where people say "there's this guy that I'm friends with, and we're freindly and we playfully flirt, but now he says he's in love with me" or "Me and this guy were friends, and now that he's getting married, I feel jealous" and "A girl that I'm close friends with, I think she likes me and how do i get rid of her".
So i disagree that flirting is harmless. you may be good friends and always teasing each other by 'fake flirting' but it can lead to mixed messages, misunderstandings, and unrequited feelings (however small) between people. (I consider playful teasing a way of flirting; it's not limited to the Joey Tribianni "how you doin' " method)