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Your Sarcasm Filter Sucks
from the either-that-or-you're-just-not-funny dept
By now, it's pretty obvious written sarcasm is extremely difficult to convey. Any time anyone tries to write sarcastically online there's a large population of people who just don't get it. At all. There just aren't enough browsers that recognize sarcasm HTML tags. In the past, we've noted that such lack of sarcastic reading skills has resulted in trouble in the workplace when people didn't get or didn't appreciate attempts at humorous emails -- though it differs by nationality. Now there's yet another study supporting this. Apparently people were asked to write funny or sarcastic emails, and then others were asked to determine how funny or sarcastic the emails were and most didn't see the humor at all. Of course, as is pointed out in the post, the other possibility is that the writers just weren't particularly funny in the first place.
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First POst
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Sarcasm
Often on my forum i'll use the mock tag [sarcasm][/sarcasm] or in IM conversations because some people just don't get it. Anything you say online is going to be taken totally differnetly than what you will say in real life, so you'll have to be more careful, especially with things that rely purely on the tone of your voice and your inflection/body movements, such as sarcasm generally does. You can use it with the right people online, but do not tick off your girlfriend on IM because you were 'sarcastic!'
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Sarcasm
A half way decent writer should be able to convey sarcasm using tone and inflection in the words......read some of the great novelists and writers both American and British....brilliant exponents of their art. Miller, Twain, Shakespeare et al
Try Oscar Wilde for a start….sarcasm!!…….his words literally just drip with it.
The problem, my darlings, is a woeful lack of education…….oh and sense of humour…..very important components……
Toodle Pip
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Sarcasm
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school daze
hang on...
reckon mesa not meant to boast bout that.
i blame my schooling.
the brit & yank sense of humour is *different* sarcasm and irony both suffer through this. if i read something written stateside thats a bit offensive, i tend to just assume it makes more sense over there.
people are too ready to take afence, me i'll just take the gate and leave it at that...
:-)
btw mark twain wipes the floor with shakspear anyday. and just *try* writing like shakespear in a school these days, dunno what wuz worse his grammar or spelling, talk about out of date...
ah.
i'll get me coat..
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Sarcasm
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Re: Sarcasm
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make it stop
Serious. Sr. claire rand s'bout the most intelgent sounding post yet and it was painful to read!! Sorry man you do that!
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What did Jonathan Swift do
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Re: Sarcasm
Some of us Americans can do sarcasm very well, thank you very much.
(Not using smilies to enforce the thesis of the article)
Seriously though, I think you're right. It's more of an issue of communication skills than anything. I communicate on-line a _lot_, and I'm also someone who loves to joke around (see above). There's a fine line between being clear you're joking and completely losing the humor. Reminds me of when you see a really funny scene in a movie, and then the joke is explained. That totally ruins it. It takes a little effort to create ad appreciate good humor, and given that our communication skills as a whole are dropping precipitously, these kinds of problems are bound to happen.
Nonetheless, readers, as well as writers, should try to be a little sensitive of the limitations of the written medium. Our forebears in the 19th-century and earlier relied solely on written words to communicate with people outside of earshot, and they didn't have this problem. Surely we're smarter then they are, right? Right?
George Bush for God!
Amerika uber alles!
Go on world, try to stop us!
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Slate article
check out below slate article, "A Giant Step Forward for Punctuation"
http://www.slate.com/id/2111172/
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Sarcasm easily confused for trolling.
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Note to Self:
Another note to Self:
Stop rambling online for others to see and mock.
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Re: school daze
I am still wondering where you are taking the fence, the gate or whatever you are talking about?
I like the Monty Python type of Brittish humor.
I agree with someone's statement above, it is all in the punctuation and choice of words. If you can't pick up a sarcastic tone directly from the writing, you never will. What's worse, some people's writing oozes with sarcasm, and they don't even know it.
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Re: make it stop
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Why is this news? Just 'cause it's about the intarwebs? Ridiculous! Plenty of people don't understand sarcasm regardless of the medium.
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Re: Sarcasm
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The Article Points The Problem Out Very Well.
"Of course, as is pointed out in the post, the other possibility is that the writers just weren't particularly funny in the first place. "
As illustrated in many of the posts above, where users are apparently trying to be sarcastic, it would seem that many of us simply confuse sarcasm with being mean.
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Re: school daze
It's a perfectly cromulent way to communicate.
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Re: First POst
LOL...
N00bz to the event...of SARCASM!
LOL
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Bad grammar
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Re: Bad grammar
but, if you are going to slam others as unintelligent, perhaps you should double check your own single paragraph complete with error.
"be able to correct write out ... "
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sarcasm
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RE: Bad grammar
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Re: make it stop
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Re: school daze
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Morons
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I am glad that ElectricMayhem picked up on my point. It is very easy to convey sarcasm through written language, even for us Americans. I am of the opinion that sarcasm only shows the writers vanity and ignorance, no matter how witty, and that it is better avoided all together.
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sarcasm
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Re: Re: Sarcasm
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In any case, even a moron in a hurry should be able to understand that.
Sorry for necro'ing the thread.
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filtering is pointless
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Re: Sarcasm
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Re: Re: Sarcasm
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