Abraham: "Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?"
Sampson: "I do bite my thumb, sir."
Abraham: "Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?"
Sampson [aside to Gregory]: "Is the law of our side, if I say ay?"
Gregory [aside to Sampson]: "No."
Sampson: "No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir; but I bite my thumb, sir."
Gregory: "Do you quarrel, sir?"

If conversations with a friend...or not friend...*ugh*...of mine could be summed up by Shakespeare, this would be it. Pretentious, too careful, false, strained politeness...tensions seething out of control...
"I do not bite my thumb at you, sir"....or do I?