Thanks for your input everyone. Though we didn't have class Thursday due to the holiday (kind of a relief to me), I was able to pin down the "originator" of this whole mess and realize that the person that was giving me this "womanly advice" is close friends with one of the people that was so bothered by my comment (I wasn't talking to her, but OK). This woman has been interested in the guy with whom I had the exchange, and he didn't reciprocate her interest, so hearing that probably didn't feel very good.

What have I learned? To come, dance and leave. This group of people don't get me and would rather talk about me than get to know me. That's not my idea of community, and I can't be the proverbial chameleon. Onward and upward... in SILENCE.