"Americans tend to miss irony. Shame for them really."
Agreed. That's something you have in common with them...and I'm glad I'm not an american (though some of them are great).
"gentle ribbing is rather different from frank and puerile abuse"
And since you just plain suck at the first one, I have to admit that you are a master at the second. This is obvious when we look at the number of bad votes your empty messages receive.