That lighter fluid thing gets thrown around like it's harmless, but it's not. Same thing happened to my old Konica autoreflex, the blades started sticking after a few days and the coating looked all bubbled and weird. Naphtha is fine for cleaning metal parts but it's too harsh for those coated blades, it seeps under the edges and just wrecks them. So no, you're not alone, this is a known trap. Only thing I'd use now is a dry brush or maybe a tiny bit of Ronsonol on a q-tip, but even then I'd be real careful and never let it sit.

Actually your punchline was wrong. The scarecrow won an award because he was outstanding in his field, not because of anything about an award. That's the whole joke. If you botched the setup, your sister in law might have been roasting your delivery, not the genre itself. Fifteen years of dad jokes and you still mixed up the classic? That's like a chef burning water. I get the sting though, family always aims lower than strangers do because they know exactly where to hit. But maybe next time lead with the correct version and see if she still throws shade, that might tell you if it's the jokes or just you.