>Most of the list members are British and there *is* a particular sense of >humour in the UK. Unlike many cultures where, if someone makes a rude comment >about you, you should feel insulted, in the UK it means the person making the >comment feels sufficiently comfortable in your friendship to make personal >comments in the expectation that you will not take them personally - and will >expect you to respond in like terms to show you accept them as a friend.If you > are going to boat around in the *real* Britain then, yes, in a way you will >just have to understand it and accept it, I'm afraid, or you will find the >experience of an evening in a pub a very harrowing one.
Okay, let me just address this one paragraph. I have a number of friends who are British, so I feel I am reasonably well acquainted with their humor. They take great delight in poking at me (and others) at every opportunity. But there are a few differences I have noticed. - We've known each other for a while. Our long association gives me enough experience with them to know when they're serious and when they're kidding. Also, the familiarity brings with it the ability to joke around with each other without taking offense; the normal sort of put-downs you would hear between long acquainted pub goers. - Their comments have enough humor in them to defuse the nastiness. It's never a complete put-down; there's always enough sugar in there to defuse the worst of the sting. I might get a little exasperated at times, but never for very long. Let me give you a recent example. David Craig just sent a message continuing a barb by Barry Holland regarding the misspelling of the word "sharing" (it was spelled as "shearing" in the original note). Barry included a smiley face, and David continued the sheep joke. All in good fun, and if I had been the recipient of that I would have chuckled a bit. I've done similar things like that to other people, and I consider it all within the bounds of fair play. I went back and read the original note that started the data versus datum thread, and it lacked any of those features. There was no humor, no smiley face, nothing to take the bite out of the sting. What it ended up being was kind of rude response I would have expected from one of my fellow Americans. I've glad that several people have chimed in saying, "Hey, we do welcome all sorts of boaters". I imagine the owners are more dedicated and that's why they post more; that is certainly understandable, but it's nice to hear that renters and hopeful renters are welcome as well. --Ken
