Canal rage

I have seen a few references to canal rage on various canal forums and blogs. I started to wonder if this was more common than one might think!  I think it takes a certain type of personality disorder to enter into the canal rage arena.

I look upon canal rage as a heated discussion between two or more people who are travelling aboard different boats. I make this distinction as you might meet up with me and the Memsahib when she is in full flow. Wrongly you might misconstrue the situation as canal rage taking place on a single boat. The Memsahib looks upon this verbal battering as a form of attitude correction or modification rather than rage.

Have you ever found yourself thinking over a past encounter, re-playing in your mind what happened. Then in a moment of inspiration thinking "now that's what I should have said!" The French have a phrase for it "l'Esprit d'escalier" the spirit that passes on the staircase.

Now, for canal rage to break out, it requires more than one active and willing participant. I often think that this sort of behaviour could be curtailed or negated by making a funny remark. Funny in the sense of laughter rather than as a retort intended to wind up the situation further. In the heat of the moment I can always find the right words. The last one was. Them, "you think you're so clever" Me, "I try not to disagree with public opinion".