I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

Many people came out in support of my post, Good Humor, this week and I appreciate your shares, comments, and general empathy. But others felt like it really missed the mark and I want to acknowledge their perspective, too.

I’m not a controversial blogger. In fact, I’m generally content to just hang out here in my own little corner of the Internet in relative obscurity doing my own thing and minding my own business. And for nearly three years now that’s exactly what I’ve done.

But moreover, I’m not a divisive blogger – and I don’t want to be perceived as one.

As a writer, I do find it disheartening that some bloggers shy away from trying their hand at humor writing because they feel intimidated by the current popularity of “snarky” humor. And though I maintain my overall point that humor need not be sarcastic to be effective, it certainly wasn’t my intent to diminish any particular forms of humor or those who choose to write (or read) them. Nor do I think my particular brand of funny is better or of higher quality than yours (or yours, or yours). In fact, I question my [rather vanilla] humor voice daily and envy those who can seamlessly write funny with an edge – among them The Bloggess, The Bearded Iris, and pretty much all of the contributors at In the Powder Room.

And lastly – and perhaps most importantly – while I may not particularly like the more sardonic parental humor myself, I do recognize that it has its place and its audience, both in the blogging landscape and in general. As does all humor, really. There is as much a place for the Daniel Toshes and Seth MacFarlanes and George Carlins (may he RIP) of the world as there are the Bombecks, Barrys, and Feys. And I genuinely apologize if the harsh and, in hindsight, divisive tone of my post made anyone feel otherwise. As writers, we all miss the mark at some point, and in this case “what she said” is not necessarily “what she meant.”

Also, now that I’ve written “Bombeck, Barry, and Fey” a few times, I’m starting to feel like it would be a good name for a band. Anyone else? No? Okay…

Let’s move on to some tapas. And since I’ve clearly said enough already, let’s start with…

What She Says

• Lil’ Bit is seriously into rhyming words these days. Which means that “I have an itch” becomes “I have a witch.” And “I like your shirt” translates to “I like your dirt.” And “I jumped” turns into “I humped.” Wait… what?

• In addition to rhyming words, she’s also into jokes, thanks in large part to Charlie from Thomas & Friends. This greatly pleases Jim, who has a goofy sense of humor himself, along with an arsenal of corny jokes after teaching 5th grade for more than a decade. “What do you call a fish with no eyes?” he recently asked her, before delivering the punchline: “A fsh!” (A fish with no i’s – get it? Yeah, it took me a minute.) Of course, this prompted Lil’ Bit to come back with her own joke: “What do you call a fish with yes eyes?” Which I admit gave me even more pause… until I remembered that, in addition to rhyming words and jokes, she’s also into opposites. And the answer? A backback! (Followed by raucous laughter – because when you’re three, you’re allowed to laugh at your own bad jokes.)

Lil’ Bit and her cousin at my mom’s retirement party: these two together are trouble.

What They Said

• In Is Hating Motherhood the New Black? Gigi Ross of Kludgy Mom also tackled the subject of biting parental humor this week, offering her own observations on this particular blogging trend in a much more diplomatic way than I managed to do. And in the end, she says, there are blogs you visit for sweet and blogs you visit for snarky – and the nice thing about the Internet is that you can choose where to go (or not go) depending on your mood and comfort level. (Gigi also had some good thoughts earlier in the week about the nature of social media following any sort of national tragedy, such as the Oklahoma tornado, in Social Media Needs Grace Too.)

• Also blogging about blogging this week was Fadra Nally of All Things Fadra who, using an awesome analogy involving Meryl Streep and Lindsay Lohan, called out bad blogger behavior in A Blogger’s Sense of Entitlement. If you’re a blogger who works with brands (or would like to), this is a must-read.

• And finally, thanks to Jennie from A Lady in France for introducing me to a new blogger this week – Andrea of  About 100% - who hilariously shared her thoughts on hitting the Big 4-0 in the aptly-titled Forty. Perception is such a tricky bitch.

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And on that note of levity, thus concludes this latest round of the Airing of the Grievances in blogging. Seriously… was there something in the water this week? And can we maybe skip the Feats of Strength?

I know I for one could use a restful Memorial Day Weekend.

What’s on your mind?