They’re executing adaptations that’re supposed to make them compete over status (as others’ perception), but they hit a corner case which flips the sign of the link between status (as others’ perception) and status (as actual worth). This makes the conversation funny, and also makes all the participants very low status in the eyes of an outside observer, to whom the flipped sign does not apply.
How do you interpret Mrs X’s complaint in light of the above theory?
They’re executing adaptations that’re supposed to make them compete over status (as others’ perception), but they hit a corner case which flips the sign of the link between status (as others’ perception) and status (as actual worth). This makes the conversation funny, and also makes all the participants very low status in the eyes of an outside observer, to whom the flipped sign does not apply.