Business vs. to friends vs. romantic
I have a female friend from South America and she often exchanges words like amor, besos, abrazos y besos, corazon, lindo, Cielo, querida, querido, chula, chulo, guapa, guapo and sends & receives images of hearts & flowers and xoxoxo's and says "thinking of you" to a south american male friend she met in November through work. He also sends links to mushy sentimental youtube's of Spanish songs. These are just examples of things that that she's sent/received from him.
These started occurring in their message exchanges not long after they met. He works for her indirectly, as an employee of a sub-contractor. She works for the general contractor and supervises the work of that sub-contractor's employees. She says she's helping him to figure out details about how to start a business in the US since he just got here in October (they met in November) and she ran a small business her for several years. She says otherwise they just discuss work stuff, although their messages have also included exchanging things such as selfies and pictures of high heels she is trying on. She says that this is simply how people in her culture communicate with people who are their friends and that none of this indicates anything more than a close professional relationship.
Does what she's saying make sense? Is this the kind of communication that a South American would have with another South American friend/coworker?
2 Answers
Is this the kind of communication that a South American would have with another South American friend/coworker? NO
They're clearly flirting and if you also have a crush on her. Forget it, she's going to drive you crazy. Sorry but that's what I think it's going on. We, Latins are sometimes way too friendly. We shake hands but also may say hello and give a kiss on the cheek right afterwards. Women usually use more terms of endearment to be friendly (amor, corazón, guapo, etc). It doesn't necessarily mean they're flirting but they would never send you links to love songs or heart images, flowers, etc. unless they're feeling something special for you just like everyone else anywhere in the world.
I agree. I'm Spanish, and I do flirt some, but It's not serious. I use a lot of affectionate terms with my dearest friends both male and female--as do most latinas. BUT. That's as far as it goes, no suggestive selfies or anything like what leumas11 refered to in his post.
