Sarcasm (Pt 1)

It is said that sarcasm is the “lowest form of wit”. It certainly doesn’t take too much intelligence to be sarcastic. After all, compared to wordplay and bantering, you don’t have to think too quickly. Just emphasize certain words, and you have a good rejoinder. Sarcasm however, is an oft misunderstood form of humor. Easily abused, it can really hurt people’s feelings rather than making people laugh. I used to be pretty sarcastic, but I’ve toned it down over the recent years because of what a teacher at a workshop said.

Sarcasm comes from the Latin word, sarcasmus, which in turn comes from the Greek, sarkasmos. The root word literally means “to cut a piece of flesh”. So as the teacher explains it, using sarcasm was to cut people’s flesh from their bones. It didn’t sound like a good thing, so I stopped using it. I guess sarcastic words cut people and hurt people, and so I was taught that it was a bad thing. I don’t want to hurt people, how about you?

Another thing about sarcasm is that it’s pretty hard to tell whether someone is sarcastic through words alone. A lot of times, when people use sarcasm, the tone of their voice changes, and it’s easier to tell when they’re using it. But since you can’t hear people write, at least I can’t, people may mistake your sarcastic remarks seriously. In fact, did you know I made some sarcastic remarks at least 2 times already? You really have to know someone well enough to be able to distinguish between seriousness and when they’re joking (or being sarcastic). So in honor of this topic, I will let you all know when I’m being sarcastic by putting a little asterisk after the statement. See? I’m nothing if not helpful.*

Sarcasm and irony are often mistaken for each other. In modern usage, they are often used interchangeably, but I, the master of all humor*, am here to educate you. So then, when you do say something ironic and someone remarks how sarcastic that sounds, you can calmly and snobbily say, “That was Irony not sarcasm, you English-ignorant fool!”* Sarcasm is a subset of irony. Irony contains more than just sarcasm, there’s Socratic, situational, verbal (which includes sarcasm), and tragic. Even within verbal irony, sarcasm is just one of many types. In particular, sarcasm is used to personally attack someone or a group of people, whereas you can use verbal irony to remark about the weather, cars, or food. So if the weather was stormy and you say “What great weather to be taking a stroll”, that would be irony, but not sarcasm. Now, you get it?*

Remember how I said that sarcasm doesn’t translate very well over the internet? Usually, people change their tone so it becomes rather nasally, and that’s a sign of sarcasm. Try it. When you read the following sentence, imagine yourself saying it, but more importantly, imagine hearing yourself imaginarily saying it. You get a bowling ball as a gift and you say to the person, “Well isn’t this the most perfect gift?” So do you hear how it’s different when you say most perfect? If you don’t hear it, your imagination probably sucks, so say it out loud until you can hear the difference.* However, over the years, I’ve learned to control my tone (either that or I’ve used sarcasm so much that it’s a part of my regular speech) so that it doesn’t change whether I’m sarcastic or saying fact. If you didn’t know me any better, you’d think I’m a bigoted uncaring guy based on the things I say. Well, I am, but it should take you at least a year before you figured that out.* I’m not too sure where I’m going with this. Oh yeah! This is another reason why I’m not as sarcastic as much. It doesn’t make a good first or second impression. In fact, it’s not until I really get to know someone that I really let loose. Because by that time, I don’t care what my friends think, they’re stuck with me.*