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Usenet Posted 17 years ago
Usage
Does sarcasm work both ways?
Someone ends a paragraph with "You don't often associate California with good looking women."
Later some Californian pretends to be offended, and the first person says, I was being sarcastic. I do associate California and the movies etc. with good looking women.
I trust him that he was kidding in the first sentence, but was the first sentence sarcasm? Is sarcasm the right word?
Somehow, I'm not sure.
Offhand, it seems to me, that sarcasm is a negative statement expressed in positive-sounding words.
His first sentence would have been a positive statement in negative-souding words. What does one call that?
I don't know what one calls that, but it doesn't seem like sarcasm to me.
Posters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I was born and then lived in Western Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis 7 years
Chicago 6 years
Brooklyn, NY 12 years
Baltimore 26 years
Later some Californian pretends to be offended, and the first person says, I was being sarcastic. I do associate California and the movies etc. with good looking women.
I trust him that he was kidding in the first sentence, but was the first sentence sarcasm? Is sarcasm the right word?
Somehow, I'm not sure.
Offhand, it seems to me, that sarcasm is a negative statement expressed in positive-sounding words.
His first sentence would have been a positive statement in negative-souding words. What does one call that?
I don't know what one calls that, but it doesn't seem like sarcasm to me.
Posters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I was born and then lived in Western Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis 7 years
Chicago 6 years
Brooklyn, NY 12 years
Baltimore 26 years
Top answer
" Later some Californian pretends to be ... What does one call that? [/nq] Not in the original sense of sarcasm, which refers to a bitter gibe or taunt, a biting remark, often, as you say, expressed in positive-sounding words.
- " Later some Californian pretends to be ...
- What does one call that?
- [/nq] Not in the original sense of sarcasm, which refers to a bitter gibe or taunt, a biting remark, often, as you say, expressed in positive-sounding words.
- He was actually being ironic, saying one thing and meaning the opposite.
- James
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26 Answers
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[nq:1]Someone ends a paragraph with "You don't often associate California with good looking women." Later some Californian pretends to be ... What does one call that? I don't know what one calls that, but it doesn't seem like sarcasm to me.[/nq]
Not in the original sense of sarcasm, which refers to a bitter gibe or taunt, a biting remark, often, as you say, expressed in positive-sounding words
Not in the original sense of sarcasm, which refers to a bitter gibe or taunt, a biting remark, often, as you say, expressed in positive-sounding words
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[nq:2]Someone ends a paragraph with "You don't often associate California ... calls that, but it doesn't seem like sarcasm to me.[/nq]
[nq:1]Not in the original sense of sarcasm, which refers to a bitter gibe or taunt, a biting remark, often, as you say, expressed in positive-sounding words. He was actually being ironic, saying one thing and meaning the opposite.[/nq]
Yes, but that is true
[nq:1]Not in the original sense of sarcasm, which refers to a bitter gibe or taunt, a biting remark, often, as you say, expressed in positive-sounding words. He was actually being ironic, saying one thing and meaning the opposite.[/nq]
Yes, but that is true
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[nq:2]Not in the original sense of sarcasm, which refers to ... actually being ironic, saying one thing and meaning the opposite.[/nq]
[nq:1]Yes, but that is true only in BrE. AmE irony is expressed by the following example:[/nq]
The first someone was British. I violated my own rule in not mentioning that, but I forgot that my sig history didn't apply to the speaker here
So in British
[nq:1]Yes, but that is true only in BrE. AmE irony is expressed by the following example:[/nq]
The first someone was British. I violated my own rule in not mentioning that, but I forgot that my sig history didn't apply to the speaker here
So in British
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[nq:2]Yes, but that is true only in BrE. AmE irony is expressed by the following example:(snipped)[/nq]
[nq:1]The first someone was British. I violated my own rule in not mentioning that, but I forgot that my sig ... express a positive meaning? That if readers could understand that it was meant to be positive, that would be sarcasm?[/nq]
What I've seen in a.u.e is what the others told you,
[nq:1]The first someone was British. I violated my own rule in not mentioning that, but I forgot that my sig ... express a positive meaning? That if readers could understand that it was meant to be positive, that would be sarcasm?[/nq]
What I've seen in a.u.e is what the others told you,
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[nq:1](snipped)[/nq]
[nq:2]The first someone was British. I violated my own rule ... it was meant to be positive, that would be sarcasm?[/nq]
[nq:1]What I've seen in a.u.e is what the others told you, that the British use "sarcasm" to mean something really ... can only think of two reasons. Either the word has more meanings in the UK than I am yet aware,[/nq]
In BrE the word "sarcasm"
[nq:2]The first someone was British. I violated my own rule ... it was meant to be positive, that would be sarcasm?[/nq]
[nq:1]What I've seen in a.u.e is what the others told you, that the British use "sarcasm" to mean something really ... can only think of two reasons. Either the word has more meanings in the UK than I am yet aware,[/nq]
In BrE the word "sarcasm"
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[nq:1](snipped)[/nq]
[nq:2]The first someone was British. I violated my own rule ... it was meant to be positive, that would be sarcasm?[/nq]
[nq:1]What I've seen in a.u.e is what the others told you, that the British use "sarcasm" to mean something really cruel and biting,[/nq]
Well, not associating California with good-looking women is an insult but it's not really cruel or biting. I
[nq:2]The first someone was British. I violated my own rule ... it was meant to be positive, that would be sarcasm?[/nq]
[nq:1]What I've seen in a.u.e is what the others told you, that the British use "sarcasm" to mean something really cruel and biting,[/nq]
Well, not associating California with good-looking women is an insult but it's not really cruel or biting. I
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[nq:2]What I've seen in a.u.e is what the others told ... more meanings in the UK than I am yet aware,[/nq]
[nq:1]In BrE the word "sarcasm" can be modified to soften the meaning. A Google search for "gentle sarcasm" site:uk finds only 540 results but many on the first page are from mainstream[/nq]
Peter, I copied nd pasted your search terms,
"gentle sarcasm" site:uk
into google and
[nq:1]In BrE the word "sarcasm" can be modified to soften the meaning. A Google search for "gentle sarcasm" site:uk finds only 540 results but many on the first page are from mainstream[/nq]
Peter, I copied nd pasted your search terms,
"gentle sarcasm" site:uk
into google and
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[nq:2]A Google search for "gentle sarcasm" site:uk finds only 540 results but many on the first page are from mainstream[/nq]
[nq:1]Peter, I copied nd pasted your search terms, "gentle sarcasm" site:uk into google and I only got 32 results. When I display with the "very similar entries" included, it goes up to 39.[/nq]
That illustrates something that many people have already noticed: that
[nq:1]Peter, I copied nd pasted your search terms, "gentle sarcasm" site:uk into google and I only got 32 results. When I display with the "very similar entries" included, it goes up to 39.[/nq]
That illustrates something that many people have already noticed: that
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[nq:2]Peter, I copied nd pasted your search terms, "gentle sarcasm" ... the "very similar entries" included, it goes up to 39.[/nq]
[nq:1]That illustrates something that many people have already noticed: that Google frivolously changes the answers depending on who is asking. ... the works. I got 544 hits, and my only surprise is that that's a close match to what Peter got.[/nq]
That's weir
[nq:1]That illustrates something that many people have already noticed: that Google frivolously changes the answers depending on who is asking. ... the works. I got 544 hits, and my only surprise is that that's a close match to what Peter got.[/nq]
That's weir
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Donna Richoux (Email Removed):
[nq:1]What I've seen in a.u.e is what the others told you, that the British use "sarcasm" to mean something really ... what they mean, for humorous effect, and "irony" to mean the surprising-yet-fitting-twist-of-fate thing. You can imagine how confusing this gets.[/nq]
Actually all those meanings, including the American ones, are in widespread use in the UK.
[nq:1]What I've seen in a.u.e is what the others told you, that the British use "sarcasm" to mean something really ... what they mean, for humorous effect, and "irony" to mean the surprising-yet-fitting-twist-of-fate thing. You can imagine how confusing this gets.[/nq]
Actually all those meanings, including the American ones, are in widespread use in the UK.
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