>Consider the huge number of list posts (despite universal
>condemnation of the practice) which consist merely of
>quoting someone else's post and adding "I agree" or something
>to that effect. Purely phatic.
So your periodic eruptions where you denounce someone as "silly" or announce that you've assiduosly been ignoring someone you've obviously been paying some attention to - are these phatic too? Phatic utterances with a negative sign in front of them?
Doug