cariad, this is fascinating. I`m quite sure we all give off signs all the time - I have so often caught myself at work, talking to a male manager, standing with my hands behind my back and generally eyes down, like a naughty school girl. Yet at work I was always well known for being aggressive, pushy, difficult, hard, scary, difficult to manage, too outspoken, not scared or respectful of authority - but to my immediate, male bosses, I found myself responding in this way!

I would really like to know, though, if you can get to an approximation of what it was he said, and what your flippant reply was? Because that was the interchange that caused the response.