NationStates Jolt Archive


Oh woe to be American! Alas, I cannot comprehend sarcasm over the internet(s)!

Colodia
07-05-2005, 04:48
Yeah, seriously. What the hell? It's widely known that sarcasm is difficult to detect on a monotone forum board, and yet people point the finger at Americans because we cannot detect it? Along with everyone else?

Question: What the hell?
Answer:
New Foxxinnia
07-05-2005, 04:51
I'm American, and I'm probably the most sarcastic person here. Then again I'm half Swedish.
Greedy Pig
07-05-2005, 04:56
[sarcasm] [/sarcasm :)
Marrakech II
07-05-2005, 04:58
answer is: veiled anti-americanism
Bunnyducks
07-05-2005, 05:01
answer: You get it just fine. As long as you don't disguise it as veiled anti-americanism.

And, half-Swedish! that was a riot! :D
New Foxxinnia
07-05-2005, 05:03
And, half-Swedish! that was a riot! :DI can normally detect sarcasm well, but when people use smilies it completely throws me off.
Bunnyducks
07-05-2005, 05:04
Oh, when Swedes are mentioned, smilies are a must.
Pastius
07-05-2005, 05:08
sigh. and so everybody hates americans because we happen to be citizens of a country run by a creepy redneck dictator. thats just not fair. a persons inability to understand your personal sarcasm and/or wit has nothing to do with national orientation. ok, perhaps it has something to do with the national orientation, but it is not a general representation of the population. do not assume that just because my stupid neighbor believes that when you say "you will do something and give him fifty bucks for being a pompous ass while you are at it" that i am as ignorant a bastard as he, simply because i happen to inhabit the same general area...
Blood Moon Goblins
07-05-2005, 05:09
Question: What the hell?
Answer:
42
Gartref
07-05-2005, 05:10
I hate sarcastic people.
Eutrusca
07-05-2005, 05:11
Ahh, sarcasm. The highest form of humor. :)
Ernst_Rohm
07-05-2005, 05:11
i'm never sarcastic, sarcasm is a jewish tool to enslave the white man and breed him out of existance so the jews can rule the mongrel world which remains after the last true aryan dies childless and alone in idaho.
Constitutionals
07-05-2005, 05:11
I don't care if no one else gets my sarcasm.

I get it, and that's all that matters.

But seriously, isn't sarcasm more for the sake of the the smart-@$$, then for the person who recieves the sarcasm?
Ernst_Rohm
07-05-2005, 05:13
I don't care if no one else gets my sarcasm.

I get it, and that's all that matters.

But seriously, isn't sarcasm more for the sake of the the smart-@$$, then for the person who recieves the sarcasm?
yeah but sarcasm is ineffective if no one gets it. its actually an effective tool against the sarcastic wiseass to never acknowledge their sarcasm to just blithely take everything they say at face value.
Zannetopia
07-05-2005, 05:20
Oh yes, sarcasm, at least when I use it, is mostly for my enjoyment. That would make me a smart a$$. :rolleyes:
Constitutionals
07-05-2005, 05:21
yeah but sarcasm is ineffective if no one gets it. its actually an effective tool against the sarcastic wiseass to never acknowledge their sarcasm to just blithely take everything they say at face value.


Sure, it's ineffective.

But it's like me writing a story: I just want to be happy with the finnished product. If you want to make a point, don't use sarcasm.

And yes, taking things at face value can work. But that depends on if you want to stop their sarcasm.
Australus
07-05-2005, 05:23
My parents are both from other countries. Maybe that's why I have a better sarcasm detector than some of my U.S. born comrades.
Laskin Yahoos
07-05-2005, 06:17
Answer: OMG stupid Yank!

Sarcasm enough for you? :)
Intangelon
07-05-2005, 07:40
--snip--
But seriously, isn't sarcasm more for the sake of the the smart-@$$, then for the person who recieves the sarcasm?

Wow. Very Zen question there. Very similar to the "is art for the artist or the percipient" question I had for an essay in my graduate Aesthetics class.

Emo Phillips said this on the subject:

"Once when I was a kid, my friend and I were playing in the foundation of a house under construction. While we were playing, we got separated and somehow I tripped and fell into a small pit in the concrete slab on my back with my head propped up on a pipe. The pit was filled with water and I was half covered with my head completely out and dry. Something about the fall had temporarily paralyzed me, as I couldn't get up. My friend had heard my yell and the splash and had come to the window frame just in front of me. He asked "do you want me to help you out of there?" and I said "no, I'm practicing my backstroke." So he said "oh, okay" and ran off home. It was when it began to rain and the water began to get deeper that I realized that there's a time and place for sarcasm...."

That's rancidly paraphrased, but still relevant.
Chellis
07-05-2005, 07:44
Im an american, and I understand sarcasm online easily. Then again, Im french-blooded...
The Land of the Enemy
07-05-2005, 07:46
42

you owe me a new keyboard, i just choked on my food over thast one.
Cambridge Major
07-05-2005, 10:16
Well, it has to be said, it is startling at just how bad some of you are at noticing it. There have been many, many times on here when I have just held my head in my hands and cried to God to end this idiocy. It usually is fairly obvious, honestly it is! And the best sort of sarcasm, delivered as it is in a perfectly serious manner, is really no easier to detect in real life.