[cajungirl]

Oh, the abandoning good manners. What I was referring to is how women are vulnerable because they are afraid to seem rude. Like someone comes to your door, asks for water. Many women have trouble closing and locking the door and saying no,,they don't want to seem "rude". And someone asks for directions from a car,,they don't want to just keep walking. Predators take advantage of that,,that was the reference to manners.

Not introducing yourself is not bad manners. But you miss meeting people and sometimes it is appropriate to do so.

[Malichi]

It's a Southern thing CG. Natalee was a gracious Southern belle. What I've found in my trips north of the Mason-Dixon line is people who think one is crazy for smiling and saying hello to a fellow shopper in the grocery store or in my case a fellow rafter on the James river. What I had to explain was that I understood in the North that if one smiled and said hello to a passing stranger that one was considered to be up to something but in the South the case was exactly the opposite. If one wasn't cordial to others then he or she would be considered to be up to something.
TAW

[b9]

It's SO TRUE about perceptions of 'friendliness' in different regions.

Here in San Diego, it must be more like the South...
a smile tells strangers "I'm no threat and you look safe, too."

While visiting Maine last month, I couldn't believe how suspicious a friendly smile was received! The bigger the smile, the grimmer the grimace.

So I totally see what you're saying about Natalee's friendliness. It's not a come-on, it's cultcha!