newton's fourth law

"A guy can never like you as a friend unless he sees you as a prospective girlfriend"
"A boy and a girl can never be just friends"
unless, reads the disclaimer, either one or both of them are committed to other people OR the guy is gay...

this is the law put forth in 'when Harry met Sally', AND explained to me again today by a rather exasperated tinni after reading the last few entries on my blog...

here's the scenario.. a girl and a guy have been friends for a long time.. the girl is dating some other guy, the guy is/isn't.. immaterial to the question really... they're friends.. they hang out together, they've met each other's "other halves" etc... eventually both break up with the person they've been with.. and continue to be friends.. and suddenly, out of the blue, the guy pipes up with a .. "you know.. i've wanted to ask you out for a while now" and the girl is left wondering.. %^&$%^&*&*%$%$%???????

i ask you, dear readers... WHY are men so ridiculously complicated to understand?? is it really that impossible for a guy to have a friend who is good looking, easy to talk to, single and female.. and NOT harbour 'not all that friend-like' thoughts for her??
is it true for all men?? or just 20 something idiots who have suddenly realised that the pal they've been hanging out with is of the opposite sex...
u know the previous line doesnt actually apply.. coz the gentlemen in question who prompted the outburst arent really 'recovering from the throes of puberty' teenagers or escapees from the 'no women allowed' campsites of the taliban.... they're over 20, educated young men who have had female friends for a long time and have had girlfriends/ crushes/ flirtations at various points of time..

tinni put forward this really interesting point today... the 'single guy mentality'
if the guy is single.. any and all girls he meets are potential girlfriends... even the girl next door who he's seen as a snotty 3 year old to the grown up woman that she is.. even the best friend of a beloved ex.. ALL women, if they're dumb enough to continue being friends with the  guy, are potentially 'women to hit on'.

'no guy would continue to be a close friend unless he wants something'
is that what i have to learn from the behaviour of people around me now???

weirdly enough... this argument is not restricted to women -who -have -had -to -deal -with- it... a similar discussion with a male friend (who thankfully is committed and therefore non-threatening) yielded virtually the same opinion..
" a guy will always have issues if his girlfriend is friends with a single guy, not because he doesnt trust his girlfriend.. its because he knows that the single guy in question will invariably make some move at some point of time.."

you'd think the woman whose holding up half the sky might wanna shrug away from the guy next to her.. just in case...