When I was in a relationshit with my abusive ex , we for some reason would get random men saying things like "y'all look cute together" or "nice looking couple". One time a guy said "oh hey man are you two on a date?! She best be your girlfriend mate!" Another time we walked past a man who complimented my hair twice while I was walking with my ex. I ignored the guy and my ex asked if I heard him (of course I did) . We would get this type of attention pretty frequently from MEN. We got one of those awww looks from a woman ONCE or twice no more than that but the men for some reason were googly eyed. Each time it happened I always found it odd and just sort of politely smiled but didn't know what it meant but I noticed that my ex was always QUICK to say thank you to them and nod and smile and give them a litgle chuckle and he'd have more pep in his step after those encounters too!

That was the longest relationship I had so I can't compare it to others but I found it odd and believe perhaps it was covert flirting from these men? Or was it some male ego thing or territorial thing , like sizing my ex up? They seemed harmless when making these comments a part from the hair compliment. My ex was abusive, pathological and LV but you couldn't tell just by looking at him. He put up a good front and show so what these men saw was deceiving, I dont think they were saying it because of what they perceived him to be though. I just can't place into words what this behavior of the other men may be called. Were the men who did this LV themeselves?

Has anyone else ever experienced this during dating or while in a relationship? What does it mean?