Vakkotaur

While looking somewhat randomly about LJ this weekend I saw someone upset and annoyed that they called someone something in jest (in a textual medium) and that other party got offended by it. Could it be perhaps that the other party simply did not know it was in jest? Not knowing the full context myself, I cannot say. But I suspect that was the case.

What got me about the person who was upset that something said was taken "the wrong way" was the instant declaration that the offended party "had no sense of humor." There were echoes from others about people with "no sense of humor" and who "couldn't take a joke." There seemed to be a surprisingly large number of these poor, deprived, humorless people. The whole thing looked rather familiar, and not in a good way. I can't say those making the accusations in this instance are nothing but trolls and troublemakers, not knowing them well enough to make that determination, but it would not be surprising in the least.

If that many people "can't take a joke" or "have no sense of humor" maybe they are not the ones who need to reconsider what is and what is not funny.