Attention abusers of linguistics

[Bloax]

If you decide to use sarcasm, don't point it out right after you say whatever sarcastic thing you were planning to say - it wrecks your image, spoils the joke and it even looks ugly!
Make me read a triple-negative such as that and I'll gladly send you packing with your license to kill shredded until you've learned your lesson.

if you do not practice such vile acts, have a nice day

[reaver]

I think this forum could benefit from the idea of using blue text to indicate sarcasm.

For example:

I'm so happy you made this gardening proposal. Originally I believed that the endless drudgery of monitoring plants would be undesirable, but your proposal made me see the glory of gardening. All hail Fedhas!

[Leafsnail]

I think this issue is incredibly important and I'm glad you made a thread about it.

[Leafsnail]

NOT!!!

[Bloax]

you can't say i didn't warn you beforehand

[dck]

Literally no online place of discussion I've ever seen has gained any benefit whatsoever from trying to put sarcasm under a spotlight, so pretty please let's not even consider starting to do that.

[and into]

If anything, an "I'm not being ironic/kidding" tag would be a lot more helpful.

[WalkerBoh]

If you're taking this thread seriously, you're doing it wrong.

[dck]

I take everything bloax says very seriously.

[godzilla]

I take everything bloax says very seriously.

everyone with a monocle deserves to be taken seriously

[pratamawirya]

If you decide to use sarcasm, don't point it out right after you say whatever sarcastic thing you were planning to say - it wrecks your image, spoils the joke and it even looks ugly!
Make me read a triple-negative such as that and I'll gladly send you packing with your license to kill shredded until you've learned your lesson.

if you do not practice such vile acts, have a nice day

Sarcasm is such a noble art, so you have a good point. And you are polite. Have a nice day too.

(ha! am I being sarcastic or not?)

[and into]

If you're taking this thread seriously, you're doing it wrong.

I'm not taking this thread anywhere, much less seriously. But I am probably doing it wrong.

[moocowmoocow]

I didn't not read this thread, and am not ungrateful for having done so.

[Bloax]

well this is cyc after all

did you expect, iunno


?sane topics?

[pratamawirya]

?sane

scrolls to cure confusion?

[Grimm]

I think what's called for is an argument about the difference between irony and sarcasm.

[Bloax]

Unlike sarcasm which is purely literal, irony can also be founded in actions - in addition to not looking ugly if declared in a story halfway decently.

[Confidence Interval]

Hasn't the difference something to do with intention? In relation to an action, one could (e.g.) wave sarcastically at someone but not wave ironically. Irony, in contrast, is inherent in unintended or unanticipated events.

[damiac]

Irony is an illusion. What we call irony isn't irony. Real irony is boring and not funny. What you think is ironic isn't. The only irony is when someone thinks they know what irony is, and that's only just barely ironic. Therefore this very post is ironic, yet, it isn't, because it can't be.

Sincerely,
An ironically concerned citizen

[Grimm]

sarcasm (n.)
1570s, sarcasmus, from Late Latin sarcasmus, from late Greek sarkasmos "a sneer, jest, taunt, mockery," from sarkazein "to speak bitterly, sneer," literally "to strip off the flesh," from sarx (genitive sarkos) "flesh," properly "piece of meat," from PIE root *twerk- "to cut" (cf. Avestan thwares "to cut").

[Grimm]

And here's an interesting chart I'd not seen before:



source: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=humor

[damiac]

So, what, did they just have people put random words into boxes for the fun of it? Irony is for an inner circle, cynicism is for the respectable? What the hell are they talking about?

This fills me with a burning fury

[Confidence Interval]

Motive "self-relief", audience "the self"... I think they confused "sardonic" with "masturbation".

[Laraso]

According to that chart, if I want to be a cynic I need to get naked.

[Confidence Interval]

According to that chart, if I want to be a cynic I need to get naked.

We're a free-thinking bunch here in CYC. Go for it.

[Grimm]

Irony is for an inner circle, cynicism is for the respectable? What the hell are they talking about?

The notion is that the intended audience of a genuinely ironic statement is a subset of the entire audience.

Not sure about the cynicism. The chart is from 1926. The meaning may have changed.

[Confidence Interval]

1926?! Come on Grandpa, let's move with the times a little here!

[and into]

So, what, did they just have people put random words into boxes for the fun of it? Irony is for an inner circle, cynicism is for the respectable? What the hell are they talking about?

This fills me with a burning fury

It is from Fowler's Modern English Usage. Here's the brief written introduction to the chart:

humour, wit, satire, sarcasm, invective, irony, cynicism, the sardonic. So much has been written upon the nature of some of these words, and upon the distinctions between pairs or trios among them (wit and humour, sarcasm and irony and satire), that it would be both presumptuous and unnecessary to attempt a further disquisition. But a sort of tabular statement may be of service against some popular misconceptions. No definition of the words is offered, but for each its motive or aim, its province, its method or means, and its proper audience, are specified. The constant confusion between sarcasm, satire, and irony, as well as that now less common between wit and humour, seems to justify this mechanical device of parallel classification; but it will be of use only to those who wish for help in determining which is the word that they really want. See also satire.

It isn't perfect but it is pretty good in terms of outlining how these terms would apply to classic (and classical) literary examples. Probably doesn't apply very well to what people post online today.

[Grimm]

and into classin' it up as usual

1926?! Come on Grandpa, let's move with the times a little here!

What are you, twelve?

[Confidence Interval]

Now you're just being impudent, Grime.

[tasonir]

The "see also satire" at the end of that makes me think he was subtly suggesting he made the entire chart up!