[lit-ideas] Insults Which Are Humourous (Maybe)
- From: Eric Yost <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 08 May 2010 18:05:13 -0400
On 5/8/2010 1:39 PM, jlsperanza@xxxxxxx wrote:
"You can refuse to be insulted."
Yes indeed. Intention and environment interact. For example, in
editorial meetings at the old National Lampoon offices, the *need* to
banter, crack wise, jibe, etc., was a validation of one's job skills, as
well as a form of group solidarity. In the (sometimes brutal, always
rapid-fire) back-and-forth, tacit social rules determined an insult more
than any semantic content.
Further, as in a fencing match become too aggressive, a determined
assault (a real insult that transgressed boundaries) could be parried
with an equally-real comeback, a riposte that always returned the
meetings to their normal rules. It was taken as a
"he-hit-me/I-hit-him-back" situation that established justice, and
seldom if ever escalated to unabashed, overt aggression.
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