Sarcasm

[bmah]

I'm sure you've experienced a lot of sarcasm before, and I certainly have - people say I'm not really a funny guy and that I frequently take things seriously. On a restricted medium of communication such as text online, this tone is further amplified as you can only go by the words I type. But sometimes I wonder if it's not just me who misses sarcasm a lot. I also suspect it's more than the respondent being impressively smart-alecky and can twist his/her words in a professional manner. Is that something to applaud at all?

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Let's say you're having a normal conversation with someone online, with no visual or aural cues, i.e. typing out to someone like I am typing to you now. Here's an example regarding opinions. Person A could've secretly liked it, or maybe he was joking, in order to conform to popular opinion on the fly:
Person A says, "Ke$ha is pretty hot dangit!"
Person B says, "Um...really?"
Person A replies, "Lol dude, I was being sarcastic."

Second example. This one is about apparent hypocrisy. Person A might've been joking, or he could easily be covering up for his dumbassery that Person B has spotted:
Person A says, "There's nothing wrong with listening to Michael Jackson. I listen to it a lot. Don't see why people dislike him so much."
Person B says, "What about Carly Rae Jepson?"
Person A replies, "Carly? Lol no, I listen to REAL music."
Person B says, "You've just weakened your argument in convincing others to accept the music you listen to."
Person A replies, "Sarcasm is sarcasm."

Last example. This one is about joking around, but it's not necessarily the best idea. Is anyone supposed to detect this?:
Person B says, "My mother just passed away."
Person A replies, "Well I'm sure you'll have a nice life without her."
Person B says, "That's pretty rude. I loved my mother."
Person A replies, "Sarcasm. I was just messing around."
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I'm getting suspicious. To all sarcasm lovers out there: how often do you mean what you say? Be honest about this (hmm, I really wonder how many accurate responses I actually get...would people admit this?). The reason I'm asking is because I sense that a lot of people use sarcasm to cover up their Freudian slips, goof-ups/lack of knowledge, or their general irritation that they may have caused. On a forum like here, no one can tell for sure, so they often end up making you look like an ass for taking something so seriously. But am I the only one to find these things not funny? Maybe it's only funny to you, in which case I'm not interested. Maybe you can even call me butthurt for even "complaining" about my supposed lack of sarcasm detection. Then again, maybe you really did say something stupid and you're just hiding it.

If I fail to pick up your intended message, am I that rigid? Or did your wittiness fail spectacularly? Seriously, it happens a lot and I'm tired of getting the butt end of what I suspect are people's stupidity that they try to cover up. I could be wrong, but that's why I'm asking you. What's the deal?

[JohnRedWolf87]

I think the problem lies with them. In the examples you listed, the first two "sarcastic" remarks seemed pretty serious to me. And the third one is just someone being a dick.

[psychoangel691]

I typically have something that will signify that I was being sarcastic. Maybe a smiley or like a pffft type deal.

Edit: Actually the indication I probably use most would be like emphasizing a word like "I TOTALLY love whatever I'm being sarcastic about"

[bmah]

That's really helpful. All too often though, the only thing I have is the text that I read from someone without any smilies. And I don't usually try to miss out on the context of the situation either.

[Choofers]

If we're talking about irl, I tend to be really sarcastic, but only sarcastic enough to not offend. If I offend someone with my sarcasm, I tend to quickly apologize and "lighten up" around that person. And I make sure it's glaringly obvious, at least for the person I'm talking to.

If we're talking about on the internet, then fuck bitches get money.

[psychoangel691]

Originally Posted by bmah

That's really helpful. All too often though, the only thing I have is the text that I read from someone without any smilies. And I don't usually try to miss out on the context of the situation either.

Sometimes it can be really hard to know if someone's being sarcastic, but sometimes there's little signs like those. I don't get too sarcastic often but if I'm talking about certain things it definitely does happen.

[One Winged Angel]

Second example pisses me off so much, although it's pretty obvious to detect when someone's trying to use 'l0l wuz being sarcasTIK' as a scapegoat to cover up their own stupidity. I could link some fiffer thread examples but I won't since it would probably derail this thread to some extent. I'm sure some of you know the threads I'm talking about anyways lol.

p.s. bmah, 99% of everything I've ever said to you was me being sarcastic

edit: lol this is a serious thread so I'll add this in here. Basically just gonna re-iterate what Choof already wrote. In real life, the tone of my voice makes it very obvious that I'm being sarcastic when I choose to be. On the internet, I'm sarcastic as fuck because I just...really don't care lol. Yes, it's very difficult to pick up on sarcasm through text-based interactions unless you know the person well or there's some other indication like Kayla mentioned. I don't really do this though lol. But I know that most people that I interact with only online already know I tend to be a very sarcastic person, so I don't really worry about this issue.

Then again, maybe there's a better word to describe this than sarcasm. Like, I could message smartdude right now with 'eat shit and die' and I know he won't take any offense to it. Is that me being sarcastic? Who knows lol, the point is: 420swagYOLOblazeitfgt.

p.p.s. I love you bmah

[TC_Halogen]

Partially relevant, and an addendum to Kayla's post: when comparing user behaviors on mediums where you can't physically see emotion, it's noteworthy to mention that a person might change the physical appearance of their post/message. For example, even if it seems like I'm within context, you can tell I'm being sarcastic if I lack punctuation/proper sentence structure.

this thread was a terrible idea no one gives a shit about it because its a waste of time

[SKG_Scintill]

Truth hurts, sarcasm doesn't

[Magicturbo]

I think sarcasm works best between 2 individuals who know each other to a particular extent. I probably wouldn't be 'as' sarcastic to someone I only just started talking to or met. But someone I've known for years would be able to pick up any sarcasm I throw from a mile away.

I think people just don't think too far into who they're being sarcastic to, ending with confusing results and an awkward air sometimes.


+1 to AJ's post, sentence structure and purposeful grammar errors or slang or w.e often make up sarcasm. Thank goodness people sometimes do that because makes it easier to disregard anything they say as serious

[Razor]

lolz iz diz nawt sarkustik enuf 4 u?

[TC_Halogen]

Originally Posted by Razor

lolz iz diz nawt sarkustik enuf 4 u?

not at all

[Razor]

Originally Posted by TC_Halogen

not at all

no1 axd u

[EzExZeRo7497]

Second example makes me cringe sooooo much holy shit. It pisses me off really bad whenever people try to hide their mistakes/stupidity by saying that it's "sarcasm", especially when they think that it's difficult to track sarcasm online.

I rarely use sarcasm in real life, mainly because none of my friends are able to pick up sarcasm anyway and it's rather bland/unfunny to begin with. I try my best to make it sound like sarcasm though, but it doesn't really tell them in their face that I'm being sarcastic, so I rarely use it.

On the internet it really depends on how familiar I am with the person or the chat room in general. I obviously wouldn't tell a newbie to eat shit and die because I'm not familiar with that person, and he'd probably take me seriously anyway. I could tell Choof to suck a dick and he probably wouldn't take any offense because he knows that I'm being sarcastic.

I try to make my sarcasm as obvious as possible nonetheless, you can tell if I'm sarcastic or not due to my lack of capitalization/punctuation. I do that because like what MT said, it'll probably end up with confusing/embarrassing results and an awkward "space" if I don't.

(Can't remember that SS Rushy has as his sig about Haku talking about sarcasm and people being naive...)

Anyways, I like sarcasm. I like crude humor in general, and sarcasm suits just that. Wouldn't use it that much though, I usually mean what I say.

aj ur a faget

[I like it]

irl i use sarcasm a lot and its p easy to pick up on cuz i say something false but its usually very silly so its obvious im just messin around (altho if im secretly mAd at someone ill say something to them in a sarcastic tone and they have no idea i was serious (or maybe they do idk))



online tho i still use it just not to the same extent because its not as easy to tell

[Reincarnate]

IMO it depends on how well someone knows you, because sarcasm (and satire) work best when it's touching on something that's just a notch or two beyond what's believable. Without any reference point, it can be hard to tell if someone's being serious or just playing around.

When Halogen just said "this thread was a terrible idea no one gives a shit about it because its a waste of time" we know he's being sarcastic because he rarely speaks that way.

However, if some random 8-year old jackass said the same thing, we would think he was being his usual self.

This is also one reason why Colbert has said he doesn't want his kids watching his own show (go to about a minute in):

EDIT:
Unrelated bit of Colbert who goes out of character but the stuff he says at the end is so ridiculously profound

Also note that clearly not everyone on the show gets the sarcasm

[Coolboyrulez0]

Since I don't want to rephrase what was being said too much I'll keep it simple:

Sarcasm is an extremely effective tool, if the speaker is able to use this properly, and if he knows his audience.
A grumpy person who addresses an inappropriate audience with a sarcastic statement will come off as sincere
whereas a more humorous or charismatic individual is able to convey a sarcastic message and have it understood as such.

Basically, effective speaker, knowledge of audience and proper setting (sarcasm rarely has a place at funerals etc) is needed for effective use of sarcasm.

PS: I really enjoy Stephen Colbert (the character and the person) and those clips. Thanks for that.

[8 Hour Whore]

I make retarded faces when I'm being sarcastic irk. Very easy to tell. On the comp I always make a face or something similar

[Charu]

Gosh dang it golly geezers, stop making jolly dally rally deals about sarCAST! Y'know what I'm sayin'?

...That's usually how I let people know I'm sarcastic or making a joke. I add silly wordings to what I say or type to emphasize what I'm saying or typing to not being taken seriously.

To me, I think that's the best way to communicate to someone without sounding like a jerk/idiot.

And with that, I say DOHOHOHOHO to you sir!

[kjwkjw]

When I'm trying to be sarcastic online, I -usually- make it easy for everyone to see I'm not serious. Sometimes I'll do what Charu said (silly words/phrases/etc.) and other times I'll do what AJ said (intentional and blatant mistakes in spelling and grammar).

I also find myself using several exclamation marks (often separated by a space from the last word) at the end of sarcastic comments, haha.