G'day,
What a timely and beautiful thread.

As Nora pointed out exact meanings and expressions can be lost here, and I felt that to be a contributing factor in the Dylan thread where people I respected seemed to be behaving unreasonably. And what about cultural differences? In Australia we expect to be "insulted" every day. "Old bastard", "cranky bastard" etc (but not "bastard") are forms of endearment. My son-in-law called his father a "lyin' bastard" yesterday. The old man's grin simply widened.

This thread is helping to clear the air, Mudcat feels better already.

cheers,
Alan