Interpreting body langage

I'm posting in relationship as a stopgap, as my question doesn't really fit any specific mental disorder.

There's this woman on my block, not a native English speaker Caucasian, that I bump into once in a while, and has been sending ambivalent signals. Sometimes she pretends to be focused on her mobile when she passes me by, but puts on a smile if I greet her (how are you doing?). Other times she very visibly changed her path to cross mine. I would acknowledge her with a greeting, she'd say something in approval, not very distinct (language barrier?), but continues on her way. The last time this happened, I said "you've got just the right outfit for this weather" (bad) and that visibly caused her frustration. Ever since, there has been no near-encounters, she stays withdrawn.

I'm shy and average at reading people's minds. Would appreciate some guidance.

i can't say for sure, but her behaviour makes me wonder if she has some anxiety.

If she was definitely pretending, rather than actually being engrossed with her mobile, then she probably felt really awkward and was using that as a kind of 'shield'.. (i do the same thing sometimes.. though not as much anymore).

howdidIdo wrote:I said "you've got just the right outfit for this weather" (bad) and that visibly caused her frustration. Ever since, there has been no near-encounters, she stays withdrawn.

it's possible your comment made her feel that you were looking for more from her than just a friendly chat..
commenting on someones outfit is quite an intimate thing to do.

I don't know if she's backed right off because she's married/with someone/plain uncomfortable.. but i'd suggest that if you'd like her to start saying hi again, just treat her as normal.. say hello, smile briefly, comment on the weather (briefly).. etc..
but don't mention her clothes/appearance etc again if she does one day start chatting (unless oc you one day end up on a date or something).

"commenting on someones outfit is quite an intimate thing to do."

for saying she has the right outfit for bad weather? (rhetorical)

SBB may be right here. not all compliments are necessarily perceived as compliments. and, whilst men have no emotional attachment to what they wear, women do. for example: she may have been unhappy with the clothes she had on and complimenting them would just draw her attention to that unhappiness. other than that, i'll guess she misunderstood you in some way.

shock_the_monkey wrote:SBB may be right here. not all compliments are necessarily perceived as compliments. and, whilst men have no emotional attachment to what they wear, women do.

Wrong premise, I didn't compliment her, merely stated the obvious ("right outfit" in the context of "bad weather").

The only thing I gather from my experience is that 1/ she wanted to make contact 2/ my question was meant to put her at ease, she could have replied 'and you, you are not cold?' 3/ she expected something else, perhaps anxious and as a result awkward, as pointed out by SBB.

I think I was delusional to think more brain power could elucidate this enigma. There is only so much I can convey in words, and I realize they are too limited.

Don't overthink it, just smile when you next run into her, don't forget the eye contact.
Tbh, unsure how I'd respond to your comment, wasn't really a compliment (were you being sarcastic and she had the opposite of a right outfit? ), wasn't a question, if she isn't a quick thinker, she might have easily lacked words there and then the moment passed. Strange that what you said would cause her frustration though.
And for the record, a decent percentage of girls out there don't particularly enjoy being commented on by strangers while walking, might come off as distasteful.

shanzeek wrote:And for the record, a decent percentage of girls out there don't particularly enjoy being commented on by strangers while walking, might come off as distasteful.

For the record, you are distorting the context of my story and stating a banality. I'm leaving this forum.

howdidIdo wrote:

shanzeek wrote:And for the record, a decent percentage of girls out there don't particularly enjoy being commented on by strangers while walking, might come off as distasteful.

For the record, you are distorting the context of my story and stating a banality. I'm leaving this forum.

i'm sorry howdidIdo that you're not finding the answers helpful.. but shanseek isn't distorting the context, she's giving you an explanation of how the lady in question may have perceived your comment.
Commenting on her outfit was to your mind a completely innocent thing to do.. but it could possibly have been taken in a negative way by the lady..

there are various reasons why this may be so, but the main point here is that we'd like you to be able to get her talking again.. please do consider our responses a bit xx

Hey howdidIdo,

If you decide to return...

I think shanzeek's thought was fine, and a reasonable possible interpretation. None of us here mind-read All anyone can do is offer some guesses based on their own experiences.

howdidIdo wrote:
For the record, you are distorting the context of my story and stating a banality. I'm leaving this forum.

You're very defensive and dramatic. Frustration she displayed was a negative emotional reaction, it's natural to assume she took the comment in a negative way. However, being stuck on this one event is useless, one genuine smile will fix potential misunderstanding.