Sarcasm

How do you handle written sarcasm?

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GeekOut

Guest
Original poster
Whenever something is written, especially on the internet, tone can be lost or changed. Jokes and sarcasm can come across as anger or insults, and vice-versa. Things that are meant to be consoling might seem inconsiderate. Do you think there is a way to change this, better handle it, or do you throw in the towel?
 
By not being overly sensitive.

You cannot come to a forum or any place involving social interaction and not expect people to joke light heartedly or meanly to get under your skin. If people find themselves unable to just laugh at words than they should either take a break and come back or just leave it alone all together. More often than not a negative response to an unknown response can escalate things into a direction it was never intended to go. So my answer is....

Just laugh.
 
I've always felt it was a combination of Reading Comprehension Skills and Reading a Situation, with a teeny tiny part of knowing the person.

Tone in -general- is often something people with not-so-good reading comprehension will struggle with. If they have issues understanding sarcasm, they'll often have issues understanding when a sentence was meant to sound forceful, flat, excited, etc. Sarcasm possibly being THE hardest tone to understand, would be a huuuuuge issue for anyone that doesn't have a good gasp of reading tones.


Reading a situation goes in hand with this, because you have to look at not JUST the one comment, paragraph, etc, but at the whole conversation to understand the meaning and tone behind the words. Like, if you take a vague line quoted out of a random movie, you can't be 100% sure if that phrase was said in anger, love, frustrations, etc, unless you know the bigger picture of the scene. To understand sarcasm in a conversation, you need to be aware of the context to be able to pick it up.



And the last part is knowing the person. You don't have to know the personally, and I say this is only a teeny part because it's not REQUIRED to understand when sarcasm is being used. But it does help a lot. You're way more likely to understand and recognize when a person is being sarcastic when you're familiar with the personality, and the way that person interacts with others.




That is my opinion anyway! 8D
 
I find this thread offensive.
 
Hunter said:
Go fuck yourself Asmo. <3
Click to expand...

How ambiguous.

ANYWAY! I can be guilty of this sarcasm. Knowing that I do, gives me a frame of mind that has me giving someone the benefit of the doubt. (to be, or not to be offended).
 
I vary with written sarcasm because I tend to vary with whether or not I understand the intended purpose. Once I get it, I try not to let it affect me too much, but it depends on that particular scenario. Basically, I find taking it carefully and based on the scenario makes it easier to deal with anyway in the long run. Some sarcasm requires response, other sarcasm does not. It's simply a matter of situation and opinion...I think.
 
sometimes... just to make it easier on someone I'll use the sarcasm tags [sarcasm] [/sarcasm]
especially if that person might not know me... get my sarcasm... or
y'know.. I just feel like pointing out I'm being sarcastic. :P
 
I try to make sure that my sarcasm comes across clearly when I am typing online, usually by indicating it somehow, or by reading the situation. If I want to emphasize extreme sarcasm, I usually put some sort of a humorous comment after a sarcastic comment, like "The sarcasm of that sentence just managed to eat through diamond." I think I am usually pretty good at telling when someone is being sarcastic or when somebody is being honest, although I have had experiences when I was confused as to the nature of a statement. Then, I just find it the best to ask the person about how they intended the statement, or if they refuse to elaborate, just shrug and move on.
 
There is no need for this. Totally getting reported.
 
I find online sarcasm to be a large mixture of the above options, other than 'what's sarcasm'. Some people pull it off very well, the diction hey choose makes the phrase appear sarcastic. Others say something in a diction that's rhetoric comes off as "I'm completely serious" As such it makes that person feel 'smart' for 'using sarcasm but no one else getting it." To which I usually respond. "Sir/madam you are not smart, you fail." I do not believe the purpose of sarcasm is to 'evade others attention and get them to believe your façade." I believe it to be "A literary tool to express true resentment, discontent, or general dry humor." However, it and cynicism have both been abused by fail trolls who believe they are smarter than they truly are.

That being placed out I do sometimes miss what is obvious sarcasm, and get it a few moments afterwards. Then I just fell like the stupid person I truly am, and am reminded I'm not the most intelligent person in the world and am valuable. In addition to that I think I argue about it online…cause I'm posting here.
 
I handle written sarcasm better than in real life in almost all cases. I struggle with sarcasm in verbal form. At 23, I am just getting the hang of being able to input verbal sarcasm. I have been a bit able to output sarcasm verbally since my teen years (go figure). My brain processes almost everything as a direct statement or question. I don't beat around the bush and I am very blunt. If one sarcastically says something, I generally respond to it as a statement, often puzzled by why they would even say such a thing. Humor seems very illogical to me in many cases. This usually pisses people off. I'm not stupid, I get sarcasm by definition and concept. My detection skills are just bad. Think Data from Star Trek: Next Generation. Humor in general is iffy with me, I was pretty much raised with little sense of humor. According to the love of my life, I have a splendid sense of humor, it just takes awhile to blossom as I get to know someone. My friends generally agree, even though I still at times process jokes and sarcasm as flat statements. I have almost no sense of humor with someone I don't know or barely know. I have to be really comfortable with someone and assess and observe them to feel comfortable with a stab at humor. However, my confidence in written communication is far greater than my confidence as a speaker (I stutter and can't make direct eye contact. I'm not shy or quiet, but looking someone in the eyes makes me very uneasy and always has), so I will joke and be witty and sarcastic in written form.
 
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