""Will you all please give the sarcasm a rest.

We get it. You all think Mary is stupid and you all think yourselves very clever.""

Well done Jack! You pick the only person who wasn't being sarcastic to attack.

My point was the precise opposite of your misinterpretation, since I made a genuine attempt to say that Mary was looking at this from a different cultural perspective, and far from being stupid, was trying her best to understand that difference.

I don't think myself very clever at all, but I do read what people are actually saying before sticking my foot in my mouth.

Don T.