[flimflamgirl]

OK, so, I've been reading Meissoun's fabulous Istanbul shopping guide in anticipation of my trip. It's just great. One point she makes is that haggling is very important. I have absolutely no idea how to haggle. I don't come from a haggling culture. I come from New York, where attempting to haggle can land you on the sidewalk with a bootprint on your ass, or at least in a cab back to Midtown, where you are no doubt staying during your mercifully short visit in our fair city (Kidding! Kidding! We love you visitors! Come visit us!). I am sure that we used to haggle here, back in the days when the Lower East Side was populated by peasants from the Pale of Settlement. Now, however, it is not the way.

So, enlighten me. I'm used to meek, polite American shopping. What's the technique? Sweet and flirty? Cold and disinterested? Are there costume dealers whom one simply doesn't haggle with?

Many thanks.

- Leela