>>If you're going to quote, quote the full thing, not the bit that is suitable for you :-
>
>That facts about the fault in the program are irrelevant. Wether or not they were there is too. The problem was you said that the mistakes were deliberate, which I thought was an awfully arrogant thing to say, and I imagine Ed did too. However, I just say what you posted about it being a harmless expression in England, so I'm sorry that I misinterpreted your post.

I know how Mike Kramear feels. Cross-cultural communication is fraught with problems.

In my opinion too, "Deliberate mistake" is most often used humourously, over here. I thought Mike did try to clear it up in a subsequent post to Ed, though a little sarcastically.

In another thread, I was told to use emoticons, as I was being taken seriously, when I wasnt. If I used emoticons to indicate my humour, I could still use a phrase which I thought was obviously not offensive in either country & so not use a smiley face (or whatever), if I were wrong, it would be assumed to be offensive, as I always use emoticons when I am not serious.

I'm trying to work out if that sentence makes sense - what I'm trying to say is that whatever technique we use, it's still open to failure.