kontiki wrote:
99.9% of Americans would not have been confused by my tongue in cheek
comment.

Perhaps, but the other 0.1% of us participate on Usenet! ;-)

The following quote from an amusing scene from the Steve Martin film
"Roxanne" always comes to mind when I see people surprised when they write
something they intend as absurd or ironic on Usenet but is mistaken as
being seriously believed by some readers:

"Oh, irony! Oh no, we don't get that here. See, people ski topless here
while smoking dope, so irony's not really a high priority. We haven't had
any irony here since about '83, when I was the only practitioner of it. And
I stopped because I was tired of being stared at."

So tongue-in-cheek would work on Usenet, were it not for the occasional
lunatics who post absurdities on a daily basis. So no, we don't get that
here.

:-)