Does adding the tag "just kidding" to an insult make everything better? I give you my sister-in-law (SIL): She's in college and has a severe case of what I call Youngest Child Syndrome. Basically, YCS means you get away with a lot of crap the older kids wouldn't get away with--you're more independent and opinionated. And then there are those who get away with it unchecked for so long that they don't know the difference between politeness and rudeness. My in-laws may call SIL "independent" and "opinionated" but I think there's another word for it, because I'm independent and opinionated but I don't put people down. (People in glass houses, y'know.)
Anyway, so she's leaving our house the other night. She's been talking all night about this new computer she's getting--H is helping her get her old one ready to sell--and H says, offhandedly, "Oh man, I want a new laptop." It's sort of a joke because he has a nice one he got for a steal on eBay--before we were unemployed, incidentally. I laughed.
SIL retorts, "Yeah, well, I'm working four jobs--how many are YOU working?" Then, "Ha ha, just kidding."
H sort of laughs, I turn red, and SIL leaves.
SIL knows that H and I have been job hunting for three to four months. Sure we've done temp jobs so we're not dying financially. Nor are we the type to sit and pine about our present circumstances (that's what blogs are for, baby!), nor do we want other people to feel like they can't talk about their good luck and good fortune around us--we're not that selfish. Except this comment--it stung.
But ha ha, she was just kidding. Or was she? That's the thing--when you tack it on at the end like that, are you *really* kidding?
Ha indeed.