I'm not comment OP, but you literally said "I was like, um, I’m not sure I knew I was for SALE?"
A women for sale is pretty much a whore, so it doesn't seem they read into rather than taking you literally.
But even regardless, the fact that you took his word 'taken' in a literal sense rather than the compliment it was intended as, and here your defending it again rather than reflecting.
If your crossing off guys because they compliment you with common colloquial phrases that you take literally and negatively, well, you will indeed have a short list of suiters.
Impossible to answer. Social cues are tough. It all depends on how it was said and how it was meant - could be a totally innocuous comment or something to be concerned about.
For some people, “why have you not been taken” may mean nothing more than “I really like you and I can’t believe you are available.”
If we have been chatting friendly for a while already, then flattered. It's clearly implying that from their perspective I appear to be very desirable.
And if it was a serious question asked early on, I would probably reply with something I don't like about myself, a weakness, if you will. It's not an entirely unreasonable question.
A women for sale is pretty much a whore, so it doesn't seem they read into rather than taking you literally.
But even regardless, the fact that you took his word 'taken' in a literal sense rather than the compliment it was intended as, and here your defending it again rather than reflecting.
If your crossing off guys because they compliment you with common colloquial phrases that you take literally and negatively, well, you will indeed have a short list of suiters.