It's Not You.

It's not you. It's me.

I have an issue. Everybody has issues. Some people are afraid of clowns (ha, ha). Others must have their currency folded in half in their pocket, arranged in ascending order of value (seems perfectly reasonable to me). Still others claim that flu shots give you the flu (that's just crazy talk!).

My issue is with people who end comments with "grin". I bear them no ill will. It's me. I have the problem. It makes me feel like somebody thinks my funny bone has been removed and replaced with a lacking-in-social-skills bone. And that's not true! "stamps foot"

See? One should be able to discern the intended levity or pique from the comment itself. I don't need an emotional road map. You might as well tell me, "This is what I meant, you durn fool, because I don't want you flyin' off the handle over something I said as a joke."

If I can not make people understand my meaning by the way I write, then I should not be posting comments in which I need to tell people to laugh. Okay. That's kind of a rip-off of Mattie Ross in True Grit:

"If in four months I could not find Tom Chaney, with a mark on his face like banished Cain, I would not advise others how to do so."

I love that old movie. The 1969 John Wayne/Glen Campbell/Kim Darby version. You can never quote too much True Grit. You can, however, leave too many "grin"s.

I'm sure people who use the "grin" are very nice. Much nicer than cranky ol' Val. Like I said, it's ME. Not you. Like in Stand By Me, or "The Body," if you're a reader. Don't call Teddy Duchamp's old man crazy. It sets Teddy off.

"grin" is my crazy