Do you think intention determines whether something talking to someone is flirting?

[elaphe]

For example, if I tell a girl that she has pretty hair and I am not "hitting on" her, is that flirting, or is it a simple compliment?

That is flirting.

That is a compliment.

[DishLady]

Yeah, of course. If I say "Hey, @elaphe, great question," you know (I hope) that I'm not flirting. There's no motivation, no intention on my part, etc. But if I text my guy and say "Hey you..." (or he says, "Hey babe...") clearly we're flirting -- motivation being our preceding history and intention is clear...

[JTinSC1981]

Depends entirely on the context and the prior relationship and body language and all sorts of other factors.

I told my mom the other day her hair looked nice but I was certainly not flirting with her. If I said that to an attractive girl it would probably be interpreted as flirting and it probably would be flirting.

[RebelinSteel]

No that is not flirting, if you need to ask what flirting is, you don’t know what flirting is.

[strateguy632]

that is flirting

[In_Trance]

There's no such thing as a simple compliment