Apparently for a lot of people it’s any silence at all, even though I think it’s obvious that silence is also where sexual tension is built most effectively and shouldn’t be avoided at all costs.

Many believe it’s when an unattractive person shows interest but I don’t think that’s the necessarily the case at all and I’ve got personal experience to disprove it.

I’d say in my definition it’s more so when there’s a lack of social awareness or a major misinterpretation- when one person isn’t getting the hint or when they’re drivelling on about how their uncle once got caught having sex with a pig - which might be a perfect anecdote if the conversation has gone vulgar but not in most contexts. Or of course if someone wrongly assumes the other person is into them and gets physical or sexual when it’s not appreciated, but I do think sometimes you’ve got to risk it if the signals are ambiguous.

Also a lack of confidence such as someone self deprecating constantly or trying to disqualify themselves e.g “you probably aren’t interested but I was wondering you’d like to…. go to…. get a drink sometime… with me I mean” that sort of thing might be cute when Michael cera does it but not so much in real life. This can also manifest as “I have nothing to say” when in reality you could talk to a friend all day but in this case you don’t believe what you have to say has any value to the person you’re trying to pursue - which is a belief that really needs to be challenged because frankly most people just talk complete and utter shit, many people even make a living out of it, indeed the last US president was elected purely because of the amount of shit that dripped out of his mouth.

Anyway, what do you guys think makes something awkward?