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."