I fear you’ve taken my macho posturing there seriously, when all it was was playful banter.

I take it for granted that you don’t suffer fools gladly and don’t engage with people you don’t consider worthy compatriots/sparring partners/both, so, I engage with you on that basis myself — albeit I went on to banter with you about it, I recognised the compliment and said as much … I’m sorry if I didn’t do so as clearly as I thought.

Moreover, if you look carefully, you will note that I complimented you on more than one occasion there — firstly on the basis that it was clever enough to be backhanded should you choose … secondly that it was meta insofar as it could equally be (entirely) about you (rather than) as much as about me … thirdly that its application to yourself would indeed be apposite ... fourthly that, even by your own standards, it was superbly subtly done ... masterful in fact.

In my experience, you usually respond negatively when you have either not had enough coffee and/or are ‘stressed’/’distracted’/occupied about something completely unrelated, so … my perhaps poor (or, perhaps, too deadpan) attempt to make you smile at my expense aside … I hope all is well with you and I’m sorry for any offence caused, no matter how inadvertent it may have been — such was far from my intent.