The social significance of benign teasing

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wigglyspider
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19 Dec 2009, 1:11 pm

Tom wrote:
i think the idea is, it makes people relax as it sounds, "me pretending to fight with you is a joke, as i would never really fight with you.
Yeah, this. It's like reassuring the other person that the relationship is so comfortable that you'd never dream of REALLY fighting with them.
Because if you never teased and laughed, then tension might creep into the relationship.


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Tom
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19 Dec 2009, 1:23 pm

exactly Wiggly, you explain it better than me.



ToughDiamond
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24 Dec 2009, 6:53 pm

wigglyspider wrote:
Tom wrote:
i think the idea is, it makes people relax as it sounds, "me pretending to fight with you is a joke, as i would never really fight with you.
Yeah, this. It's like reassuring the other person that the relationship is so comfortable that you'd never dream of REALLY fighting with them.
Because if you never teased and laughed, then tension might creep into the relationship.

I agree......there's something about having to be ridiculously "politically correct" with people that somehow stifles the bonding, and things can get quite tense when you don't feel you dare say anything even slightly offensive. Also teasing is maybe a way of criticising a friend's behaviour while at the same time indicating that the person is still valued just as highly in spite of it.

Thanks for all your replies - I'd have posted sooner but for some reason the topic reply notifications haven't been reaching me. :? Strange because they've never failed before.