Until recently I would have answered that question, with a resounding “NO.” But now I’m not so sure. What happened, you ask? Have I gotten frisky with a man over a high scoring game of Candy Crush?
The other day, after scoring 72 points with Q-A-T-S (yes, it’s a word and yes it sounds a bit dirty, but to be frank, I don’t know what it means — Like most words I play.) while playing Words With Friends, I got a chat IM asking me to text a sexy picture of myself. WTF just happened?
Look, I haven’t been hit on in quite some time, but that’s flirting, right? Icky, letchy, uninvited flirting. Couldn’t he have gone with “Nice word”?
Seriously, I have a rule that word games should never make you feel like you need a shower.
Many of us enjoy playing games many of us are addicted to these games. (Click here for a test to see if you’re TRULY addicted) We’re playing them with more than a handful of friends, as well as random Facebook connections we couldn’t pick out of a lineup. So, where’s the harm? They’re just games, right?
Or are they?
One time, after beating an old high school acquaintance at Scramble With Friends, I got this message, “Hey, how come we never dated?” Um, I don’t know, because you’re six inches shorter than I am? (Sheesh, why do men always assume it’s their choice?)
Now I don’t want to sound too self-righteous. If a hottie from college had written something similar, I may have gotten butterflies. Oh, stop judging! I don’t care how old you are, or how bald and fat said hottie has become, it still makes you giddy when he suggests you should have dated. Even if it’s 20 years too late.
So I’ll admit, there have been a few blips on the radar that suggest playing games with the opposite sex encourages innuendo. Recently, I was challenged to WWF by what I call a “power player.” We played — I won, he won, I won … you get the picture. We never messaged other than to say “Good one” or “I have no vowels.”
We were randomly playing at 11 p.m. one Saturday night, when suddenly I got this message: “Text me a pic, I want to see how you look tonight, sexy.” I stared at my screen in shock. I’m surprised my laptop lid didn’t slide under my chin and close my slack jaw.
Apparently when he said he “had no vowels,” he meant he “took no vows very seriously.” I was in an awkward position, and I don’t mean the kind where you decide whether you have enough points on a double-double to leave a triple open. Ba dum bum. I feel like I should loosen my tie in a bit and clear my throat. (Oh G-d tell me that Rodney Dangerfield ref. wasn’t lost on you all?!)
The next morning, I told my husband and he was mad — but not at my inappropriate acquaintance. At me.
“Why are you pissed at me?” I said. “I haven’t done anything other than reinforce the intelligence associated with our family name!”
“Are you that naive? You think he challenged you because tales of your Words With Friends acumen have traveled across the land?” my husband said mockingly.
“First, will you stop talking in Old English? Second, everyone plays games with random acquaintances!” (Don’t they?)
But I had to admit, it did appear that this guy and I weren’t exactly playing the same game. Should I have known that, as my hubby suggested? I don’t know, I may have been married for a decade or so, but looking back, I don’t recall phrases like “Can you use that word in a sentence?” implying anything sexual.
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Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it, until someone takes it too far. If they say something like that, turn them down then block them. It’s only dirty if you let it be.
And tell your husband that you’ve already blocked this guy, but one more word from him and the next bozo is getting a boob shot (just don’t include your face). 😉
What I did give him a boob shot already, shit, should I not’ve???
Bad Jenny. Bad, Bad, Jenny. But hey, no face, no proof… right?
Thanks for a great reminder why not to play words with friends with people who aren’t friends. I mean, it’s right in the name, right? Friends.
Actually, I only like to play against people I’m pretty sure I can beat. So I only challenge “friends” who post things like “teh govenerment is gonna take all ur gun if u dont forword this pic yall!” (I may be exaggerating. A bit.) Does that make me an asshole?
Yes. Yes it does.
Awesome.
(I was actually joking, I really just stopped playing because it was stressing me out so much. but that sounds pathetic…)
That’s what life is all about! One ridiculous minute to the next. Keep it up!
Sounds like you have too much time on your hands…only kidding. Shrug it off and play with people you know, You certainly have enough friends.
Ciao – sexy way to say hello
Big – well, ummm
Begs – she begs
Beg – I beg
Teams – let’s team up
Sax – Sex, duh…
Don’t tell me you didn’t see that coming…
So…. if the boob shot has my husband’s face photoshopped in… does that make it “better”?
I have absolutely nothing helpful to share! I only ever really played WWF with my mom. So it sucked when I had a dirty word that could make a lot of points, but I couldn’t use it because, you know, I was playing with my mom.
Ugh- why are people such creeps?! I just watched that show Catfish and it reminds me of this post- just people sitting behind a screen giving us the chills…
I cannot believe your husband has not heard about your legendary WWF acumen! What rock has he been living under? You should just remind him that part of the price of fame is the occasional creeper. These are just the crosses that people like you and Beyonce have to bear in order to share your talents with the world. He should be proud that you will not let these awkward moments stand in the way of your mission to help the greater good with your unparalleled internet knock-off scrabble talents.
I only play WWF with my brother, so I don’t think there’s any flirting going on there. But I’ve also sort of forgotten what flirting’s like. I texted my sister from the library the other day because I thought someone might be checking me out. Or that he was angry because I was sitting in his favorite chair. My sister is awesome, because she said, “I assume he’s checking you out.”
Also, I found your blog via a link from the Bloggess and am enjoying reading it.
If a man acts creepy, it’s because he’s a creep, NOT because a woman played a word game with him. And that guy? Was creepy. Well, he probably still is.