On a basic level, sarcasm is the art of saying the exact opposite of what you mean in order to mock something. It does however have many other nuanced and ironical uses. Sarcasm is mostly conveyed through tone, and can’t really be written down, but I’m going to try.
Here is an introductory example to show why it is important to understand sarcasm. It includes two characters: 1) Our guide for today, “Sarcastick”, who is in fact a tick, and 2) his friend, the famous arthropod rap artist, Lice Cube. Sarcastick has a congenital disease that makes it impossible for him to complete a conversation without at least one sarcastic comment. When he makes those remarks, his speech bubbles are shaded in.
The moral of the story is: If you don’t understand sarcasm, you may injure your face. If you didn’t quite get the cartoon, never fear, all shall be explained! I hope.
In this example, Sarcastick emphasized the stupidity of Lice Cube’s idea by commending it in a mocking tone. And that’s basically it: sarcasm is making fun of things by ironically saying the opposite. Unfortunately, Lice Cube didn’t know that.
The first step to understanding sarcasm is to distinguish it from being straightforward. Here is a confused snail, and Sarcastick’s frank, non-sarcastic response:
But Sarcastick prefers sarcasm, so he uses a ridiculing tone to say something ridiculously untrue.
Detecting sarcasm can be difficult, but a good way to start is to ask yourself, “Would a logic person believe those words?” If the answer is no, perhaps he or she is being sarcastic.
If your greatest weakness in this world in mathematics, is somebody likely to recommend it to you as a future career? No. He or she is making fun of you. Would a sane person or arachnid encourage you to smash your face on a lamppost? No. It’s silly idea, don’t do it. Sarcasm is not meant to be interpreted literally.
I am well aware at this point that Sarcastick seems like a complete b*#@$, and so far that's true, but sarcasm has other uses. Unluckily, they are harder to notice, but they are also preferable in that they are less biting. Here is a sample of sarcasm's more nuanced uses:
It can be used for harmless small talk, and to make fun of an undesirable situation. A lot of us have seen something like this before:
Sarcastick inferred that the weather sucked through sarcasm, and Snail replied in an appropriately sarcastic manner.
It can also be used as an indirect request:
Here, Cricket has demonstrated something else that is important: sarcasm can be interpreted as a horrible taunt, but it can also be seen as a joking, roundabout way of saying, "Excuse me, please be less obnoxious". He realised that, and apologised.
It can also be used for self pity. Fyodor Dostoevsky once said that sarcasm is “usually the last refuge of modest and chaste-souled people when the privacy of their soul is coarsely and intrusively invaded.” Mhmm. Us sarcasm lovers are merely invaded and chaste souls.
Okay that's not true, but sarcasm can be used as a despairing cry. Imagine that Sarcastick is for some reason stuck with a boring and talkative spider:
Lastly, it can be used to give advice, and even to show how vapid popular belief is. So next time your hear something like this:
Remember that it could be a sarcastic joke. Sarcastick is merely emphasizing that your life won't end if you fail to attend Columbia by mocking the morons who think that it will. After all, Ivy Leagues aren't everything. Just ask Steve Jobs.
At the end of the day, sarcasm is least hurtful to those who are used to it, but it is also an important, versatile, and often hilarious aspect of British culture. For that reason, I am very fond of it, and I hope that one day you will be too.
*This is a not a woeful misspelling of "Columbia", but a horribly nerdy joke. Collembola is the scientific name for spring tails, which are these jumpy things that live just about everywhere. They look sort of like the spring tail I've drawn, and I make no apologies for being a complete dweeb.
