Straight lines

I've been worrying myself in a big way over serious problems with tone and nuance. I can be snarky, God knows, but I do my best to avoid snarkiness. And yet when I reread all my straight lines, in the most sincere of e-mails, I start seeing other meanings than I'd intended, other tones.

My spouse thinks the impression of snideness a problem with e-mail. I see it as a problem in all writing. Have I been imbued with too much postmodernist lit crit?