"Arfa Daily" wrote in message ...

I think I've become too used to taking stuff literally on here, and not
looking for the humour. You'll notice the different spelling of the word, as
I am in the U.K. Over the years, I've seen many cases of what was intended
to be humour being misinterpreted by the time it reached the other side of
the pond, and some pretty violent arguments breaking out as a result, a few
of which I've been involved in ... :-)

The last such that I can remember was a typically British throw-away comment
about a Bulova Accutron wris****ch, which was seen by everyone this side as
tongue-in-cheek humour, but was taken as a proper insult by the American OP,
and ultimately a number of other regular U.S. posters who pitched in their
two penn'orth. Since then, there doesn't seem to have been much attempt at
humour from either side, and I think that's why it went over my head - I
just wasn't looking for it or expecting it !

I was that OP, if I recall correctly. The issue is not how humor translates,
but whether the tone of the posting indicates you're trying to be funny. in
that particular case, there was nothing in the post indicating it was supposed
to be funny.

I've become more cautious about making wisecracks. As much as we would prefer
that readers get the joke without it having to be explained (which is a
compliment to the reader), a g or can save a lot of arguing.