[WikiEN-l] Conventions and movie vs. film

[Vicki Rosenzweig]

At 09:13 AM 5/4/03 +0100, JT wrote:

>Chill out, Stan. I was what is known in Ireland as 'taking the piss', a 
>bit of ironic mockery. (Oh God, you are not one of these boring people who 
>don't 'do' irony and are to a sense of humour what George W. Bush is to 
>linguistic dexterity?)

Taking the piss means you were being rude to him, and now think you're 
allowed to be
rude because he didn't think it was funny. No. Taking the piss, like many 
forms of humor,
only works if all involved agree. The phrase you're looking for is "I'm 
sorry, Stan, I didn't
mean to offend you."
-- 
Vicki Rosenzweig
vr at redbird.org
http://www.redbird.org