On 27 Aug 2004, at 7:18 am, Geoff Burling wrote:
My above passage is an example of a rhetorical
technique known as
irony. Unfortunately tone of voice does not always successfully
transmit across the Internet for some reason, & obviously it failed in
this case. I apologize for that failure here.
Well actually, I'm guilty, I apologise. I must admit, however, it was
after first reading the end of your message, at which point I had
already developed a low opinion of you, that I read this passage and
simply jumped to conclusions. (more on that in my next email)
On the other hand, not being in front of each other is not usually the
problem with irony via email it seems to me. It's just that people
often try to use irony when the truth of the matter is already staring
you in the face, which is not usually an effective time to use irony.
Christiaan