but it definitely comes across to its intended audience as "nah he's just playin' around, its just banter, he loves his friends really" (when he's not being an out and out twat- which as you've both backed me up on, is ALWAYS called out- usually immediately)

True and also a very fair point X3 The cultural context is extremely important. My partner has never actually read StC so we read some of the stories together. It kept weirding him out how Very British this Sonic was and he was pausing a lot to have to explain context to me that I didn't get