Sarcasm

From Free net encyclopedia

Sarcasm is sneering, jesting, or mocking a person, situation or thing. It is often used in a humorous or ironic manner and is expressed through vocal intonations such as over-emphasizing the actual statement or particular words.

1 Origins
2 Usage
3 Sarcasm in written communication
4 External links

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Origins

The word comes from the late Latin word, sarcasmus, which, in turn, comes from the Greek sarkasmos, from sarkazein - to bite the lips in rage,- from sarx, sark-, flesh - the root word literally means "to cut a piece of flesh (from the targeted person)."

It is proverbially described as "the lowest form of wit" (a quotation sometimes ascribed incorrectly to Oscar Wilde, but untraceable). In 1983, Leonard Rossiter published a book titled The Lowest Form of Wit (ISBN 0722175132) which includes the history of sarcasm, rules of sarcasm, and many sarcastic comments (some of which are questionable) by notable individuals.

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Usage

The term is frequently misused as a synonym for irony. Irony refers however to the literal meaning and the intended meaning of the words uttered being different, while sarcasm refers to the mocking intent of the utterance.

It is possible to be ironic without being sarcastic, and to be sarcastic without being ironic. For example, one can make a statement which, while sarcastic, is the same as (not the opposite of) the literal thought expressed: No, believe it or not, I can't read your mind!

Sarcasm is also regularly confused with cynicism, which in common use is seen as a fundamental nihilistic attitude toward other people and life in general, whereas sarcasm can also be used to express positive ideas or sentiments.

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Sarcasm in written communication

Because it is vocally oriented, sarcasm can be difficult to grasp in written form and is easily misinterpreted. To prevent this some people end sarcastic comments on the Internet with an emoticon, emphasize words with italics, bold, and/or underlining (e.g. That's just great), or surround them with a made-up markup language tag, e.g. *sarcasm*, <sarcasm> or <snicker>.

Another transformation of sarcasm into electronic media is only possible through written language. Using extremely poor typing in a sentence, one can indicate that the holder of a certain opinion is unintelligent or overly eager. For example: "but teh bias!!!11!1!one" This written slang is especially popular in internet forums. Sarcasm is also achievable through written language by using capitalization to emphazise certain words. For example: "Well isn't THAT just fantastic".

In the UK, writing has adopted the use of (!) (an exclamation mark in parentheses) following speech in which sarcasm or irony is perceptible via the tone of voice.

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