And again, with Patty and John, John's response absolutely works: it fits the conventions of music-fan discussion which I have in my head, and you have in your head, and which we see on ILM every day! "no, you're wrong." is one of the most basic answers available: Patty may think John's wrong about XTC's fabulousness, but she'll still recognise it as a valid response (a response which is not unexpected, perhaps). It just happens to be short and not very explicit.

I suppose the question is then 'what would count as abnormal?' - whether nothing but an out-of-the-blue surreal response will do.