"No offence, but ..."

Is the prefix to a comment that is absolutely 100% guaranteed to actually be offensive! Why does anyone really say this? Why don't they just say, "I'm sorry if this sounds offensive ..." or something similarly honest but not entirely harsh.

The comment in particular was on one of my photos on Facebook and the full sentance was: "No offence but you seem a little masculine"!!!

Right, first off, if this was meant as some sort of constructive criticism then maybe a private message would be better than a rather public comment. If the person posting this doesn't even realise what they are saying then they are just plain stupid for not doing their research properly, hello, follow the blog links and there might be some clues!

So let's examine the scenarios here:

1) You think I'm a guy in a dress - in that case I've put in a fair amount of effort, credit for that I think not some lame comment trying to make yourself seem clever

2) You know I'm something other than a guy in a dress - in that case you are either stupendously insensitive or a slightly more literate bigot, either way your comment was a complete waste of electrons

3) You think you know *exactly* what I am and actually assume that by posting something I may be impressed with your perception and want to have kinky sex with you - offensive, presumptuous and, showing you to have zero understanding. Also your chance of any relationship with me went from zero to 1/infinity.

4) You think I'm an Real Girl - so your method of dating real women is to tell them they look a bit like men? And you can't see the problem here? No? Oh well, maybe it's best that way, least it keeps you from procreating.

As many people's Grandparents are reputed to have said: "If you've nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all". Or another apt saying is "Better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt".