a scene from my evening (reading at a pub)...

fellow: "are you drinking by yourself?!"
me: "yes."
fellow: "do you want company?"
me: "no, that's all right, thanks."

well, it isn't as if i'm averse to company, per se. but this is the decoded version of the conversation:

fellow: "are you drinking by yourself?!"
me: "well, no, actually, i have some of the world's greatest thinkers to keep me company. they are currently disguised as a pile of books at my elbow. pity, i can't find their male equivalents in non-book form. hence, i'm sitting at a pub and reading on a saturday night. sniffle."
fellow: "hunh. you want to swap saliva later this evening?"
me: "no, that's all right, thanks."