I love banter; in fact, I thrive on it. I sit here zipping off the one liners on Twitter and laughing my arse off and fully enjoying the 10 p.m. inanity and nonsense.
Banter is an art, I fully believe. There are some blogs that do and some that don’t. There are two peeps who immediately come to mind as the Banter Queen and King. I respectfully crown them such here today – Queen Davina of 3Hats fame and her cohort King Bill Dorman (with whom I’ve only recently begun to share snark).
There are two blogs that immediately come to mind who banter well; is this intentional? Perhaps…visit SpinSucks by the venerable Gini Dietrich; she’s definitely in the King and Queen royal court. And, Ingrid Abboud aka Griddy at the NittyGriddy blog. That woman rocks the house; hands down – IN the posts every time!
And, this is the crux…banter typically comes alive in the comments, and I’ve been thick in the middle of blog comments that don’t quit; in fact, they continue over the weekend (@Shonali, @Gini and others who shall not be blamed, I mean named).
If you want to be a banterer, and that’s not like a bantam chicken just clucking all day, you need to look at a few things:
**Personality. Queen Davina shares that’s she’s an introvert; really? No way in Laxahatchie is that chica an introvert; if she is then I’m a man.
**Confidence. Do you dare to write that remark that rides the edge between acceptable and downright dirty? Who’s going to be offended? Do you care?
**In-The-Moment. It’s so EZ to get caught up in the moment and zip it off; ensure your comfort level is accepting of what comes back because social media can and will provide that intellectual stimulation (I crave and cannot get in my day job and location).
**Clever (not cleaver)ness. Let’s face it, banter takes a semblance of intelligence on a plane where true meaning and implication fly on a higher plateau. If you don’t get the joke, it’s OK, just don’t ask “what does that mean?” of someone on a roll.
Not every blog banters all of the time; in fact, banter happens when you least expect it. I wrote a post at midnight recently in 10 minutes (Is Goal Setting Genetic), hit publish and did not edit, rewrite, get nervous whether the voice was too strong or offensive or whether the person I was picking on was going to hate me. (Turns out she laughed her patoot off, and suggested I write in that voice every day; heh, impossible.)
Want to get crowned banter royalty? Insert yourself in comments; start there and you can’t go wrong. Share me some banter-ful blogs, would you? I think it’s time to make a list so we can all belly laugh, cuz it’s so healthy.
(credit: Balooscartoonblog.blogspot.com)
