While I would hate to contradict someone who knows so much more about the truth than I do, who knows not only what I do but what I intend better even than I myself know, and in fact knows so much mor43e than I that he doesn't even need to read what I've written before he tells me I'm wrong (okay, I wouldn't hate it, not really), but to those of us whose native language is English, the phrase "genial contempt" is a common, almost an colloquial oxymoronic phrase, close in meaning to "affectionate contempt", which often describes one spouse's views of the other's efforts in this or that area, for example, how the boss lady feels when I offer to help clean house.
Lacking all those recent posts, I guess it could be construed as not serious.I am overwhelmed by your graciousness. You come out swinging, express in the most contemptuous (there's that word again!) possible terms what you do not understand about some of our ceremonial behavior and the attitudes which motivate it, and then allow that maybe, just maybe, there is a certain light-heartedness in the phrase "genial contempt". How very kind!
I'm sorry but the term "affectionate contempt" especially when applied to my soulmate and spouse is not one I am familiar with, let alone experience. I suppose therein lies the problem. Now you may have the last word