It would seriously hurt to get your stocks clapped. That happened to me once in a sparring match. Spaw, don't let him clap your stocks.

Someone on another thread made a very good observation: We never saw Ringo Starr and Arafat together in the same room. So, could they be the same person? That got me to wondering about Little Hawk and William Shatner. Naw, couldn't be, right?

When I castigate (I hope that means what I think it does) Little Hawk about the goat or the dolls, it is with the intent of having some fun. People--even all growed up people--occasionally get the giggles and absolutely EVERYthing seems funny. The whole world won't like it. Hey, that's life. If I though for a moment that LH took any of it seriously, I would apologize first in public and then in private. He is a 'catter, thinker and person for whom I have the utmost respect. (I don't trust him worth shit on the goat, but he understands that.)

Some fights do break out on the Mudcat. But fights don't break out over Willard Fillmore or beer (except amongst those who drink Guinness and those who don't). Fights break out over topics about which people feel very deeply, rightly or wrongly. That too is life.

After my brother's deat a while back, I got to thinking that with his body being sent to Montreal for autopsy, then being sent elsewhere for further testing (toxicology) and finally the trip to the crematorium and then the trip to the burial sit--he travelled more the first month after his death than he's travelled in the past twenty years. That appealed to my sense of humour and I ended up laughing for about ten minutes. It struck me as being extremely funny. I wouldn't expect many people to see the humour in it, but I know some from the 'cat who would. And I wouldn't be the least offended if they too laughed out loud about it. Hell, funny is funny, even if everyone doesn't 'see' it.

An understanding of context helps, but that isn't the only barometer for humour. Months ago I seriously offended someone who likes rugby. I implied that it wasn't a real game like North American football. (I know rugby is a tough game.) You'd a though I shit in the cornflakes. I tried to make amends--they weren't accepted. So, what's a guy to do? Everything can't be serious all the time, any more than everything can be a joke all the time. Is everyone's understanding of context always right on? Naw. Is everyone's humour or timing always right on? Naw. Will it matter in five years? Naw.

It's life, and life only.