Beware of dodging jokers. By this I mean anyone who makes a joke but isn’t joking. If anyone makes a humorous reference to something they’ve noticed about you or want from you or dislike about you, they’re not making a joke. They’re being dead serious under the guise of humor. I never grin or chuckle at this shite. I always look the “joke”-teller in the eye and say “so this is what you really want or think?” or “do you really think I’d say or do that?” Because there are no jokes. Anyone who uses humor to mask what they feel or believe is not to be trusted. It means they don’t like dealing straight cards, and are likely to hide or dodge or lie when push comes to shove. (It’s roughly the same thing with people who begin a statement by saying “honestly?”) It also means they’re not very perceptive, and/or that they’ve never read Freud’s “The Joke And Its Relation to the Unconscious.” Qualification: Deadpan put-on jokes are exempted from this criticism.