No, not terribly misunderstood. It's not about me (whether I am understood), it's about you (whether you are understanding), as USers say. And I think people do sort of know I am a kidder (can you imagine being fully and always serious on Internet lists, and retaining any sanity and self-worth, if you have lived through Usenet?): John referred to that in his response and Doug has mentioned it in the past. I am happy enough with that.
> you write a sentence sneering at yourself by way of sneering at
> others of a
> group to which you belong. your "out" is that you are overeducated,
> yourself, so therefore you can say what you say.
To some extent, yes, w.r.t the sneering. But I don't believe I need an out, since I do not wish to endear myself to [the particular sections highlighted of] that group... I can say what I say because [arguably] (a) it is right and/or (b) the group I am speaking of is not one we need to be particularly sensitive to -- such as the reasons why black guys *and* white guys can make jokes about white guys, etc. Of course it is a "poisoning of the well of discourse" to get obsessive about the form to the exclusion of the content!
> doesn't make it any less poisonous to the wells of discourse.
Only if the well of discourse is populated by a bunch of pampered babies ;-).
The Stop&Shop is a good dollar and half more on milk. The yoghurt: I am talking about the horrendously fatty stuff that the little guy (2 1/2) eats. We make our own yoghurt (curds, really) at home! If you can get your Indian pals to spot you some culture, if they have any, you can get it going ... it wont turn out sweet like packaged yoghurt is, though you can probably use it get your own started.
--ravi