What you describe sounds almost exactly like the definition of playful teasing laid out in the article: > For playful teasing to be successfully interpreted as

What you describe sounds almost exactly like the definition of playful teasing laid out in the article: > For playful teasing to be successfully interpreted as affiliative rather than aggressive, the teaser, to some extent, has to understand the recipient's expectations and predict their likely reaction. Likewise, the recipient needs to draw accurate inferences and correctly identify the teaser's intent as affiliative, looking beyond any mildly abrasive behavioural elements. The stark difference in social boundaries you observe is actually an affirmation of the hypothesis that playful teasing acts as a social tool for discovering how to navigate different individual social dynamics.