Flyboy,
In response to your response, you said:
"I do understand that you Americans don't always get the British (or at least my) sense of humor."
The fact is, its a two way street...
Its not only that we Yanks dont get Brit humour, but also Brits dont always get Yank humor.
The burden is on the humorist to make his wit clear, not the listener's fault if the delivery or
joke wasnt funny or understood. So if we dont get your humour, its more of a reflection on the
your humor than the listeners. Surely we all agree on this.
As Eugene points out, humor is best caught live. If not by face to face, then voice to voice.
Text to text has to be about the worst medium.
So just assume the best in what ever people say, and jokes/dry/wry wit has its best chance of being funny and not insulting. Apply Grace liberally.
AV8R