He's really gonna do it

She spends hours analyzing three-word e-mails. She considers a squeal an acceptable mode of communication. She thrives on faulty intuition.

File this under the friends everyone has: The Girl Who Always Thinks Her Boyfriend Is Going to Propose.

I started thinking about it after reading this post from a Glamour blogger, dangerously entitled "Are these signs he's about to propose?"

Before even clicking on the piece, I knew my answer:

No.

I'm not cynical about love. I've just seen one too many friends interpret any moderately thoughtful male gesture as an indication of an upcoming marriage proposal.

This is problematic for a variety of reasons. Naturally, it sets the girl up for disappointment. However, girls who fall into the aforementioned category are pretty resilient. Or they just can't take a hint.

The bigger problem with The Girl Who Always Thinks Her Boyfriend Is Going to Propose? As her breed grows, they hurt the rest of us by making guys even more reluctant to go out of their way for us. You know, because they're worried the gesture might be correlated with marriage.

Maybe the Glamour blogger will be one of the lucky ones. Maybe the "I love you" her boyfriend scrawled on the steamy bathroom mirror really is a prelude to a ring.

Or maybe he's just being nice.

Which is a pretty great thing, too.