on winking...

I feel as though I've been bombarded by lots of winks lately and I'm not sure what to make of it. Is winking trendy now? And what exactly does it mean? In the last 24 hours I've been winked at in just about every context: at the office, at a resturant, in passing, hanging out with friends, and I'm pretty sure over the phone one time. Also, it seems that winking is more popular among the male gender, is it a type of non-verbal communication? Is male to male winking acceptable? Is there an understood meaning of the wink among guys that makes them think girls know what it means too? Just questions...
Maybe it's cause I'm jealous - we all know my own winking leaves much to be desired (and interpreted probably) but, I'm just not sure when winking became a pathway to communication. Really I usually don't know what is being communicated with the subtle wink because sometimes it seems like 'I'm funny, you should laugh now.' and other times it is 'I don't have time to listen to you, see ya' or then there was the 'I'm making a joke at your expense now'. Mostly, my problem with winking is that I can't take you seriously when you are winking at me - so if you're trying to communicate something serious, don't wink- because then it seems like a joke or maybe even a tick.
For me, winking is confusing and makes me a little bit uncomfortable ... the more you know.


Besides my personal objections to winking this is also why I don't wink at people very often