"Arfa Daily" wrote in message ...
"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...

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.

You were not the OP - although you became directly embroiled in the argument
on his side, William. The OP was someone who I had not seen on here before,
and was asking about replacement batteries for said watch, because the
originals were no longer available, and the recommended replacement made it
run fast for a few days, or something like that. That caused a well known
name this side to throw in a comment about it being a "crap design" as I
recall, making a bit of a mockery of the name "Accutron".

The OP took deep offense at this, and no amount of telling him - or you if I
remember correctly - that the comment had been intended as humour that you
both had failed to understand, would recover the situation. Still, over and
done with, and no point in resurrecting it all again, so we'll just leave it
there, shall we ?

Thank you for clarifying, but I can't leave it there.

When written out, /without/ modification (such as verbal inflection or tone of
voice), "crap design" has only one meaning in American or British English -- a
criticism.

Now, if the person had written "crap design " -- there would have been no
argument.