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Oscar Wilde once said, "Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit but the highest form of intelligence." Regardless, PR experts and marriage counselors often advise their clients to stay away from it. The reason is simple: this form of expression can sting others, hurting people and harming relationships. As a communication tool, it dances on the edge of conflict.
But sometimes, throwing sparks and seeing if they catch fire is precisely what you want. Especially when everyone and everything around you tickles your nerves. Which is something we all sometimes feel. (I hope.)
So let's take a look at the Instagram account 'Sarcasm Only.' Sharing memes, tweets, and all kinds of content, it manages to pinpoint universal human emotion despite firing shots in every direction. If there's one place you need to get through a lousy, it's this little corner of the internet. I mean, why else would 16 million people follow it?
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In fact, scientists are finding that the ability to detect sarcasm really is useful. For the past 20 years, linguists, psychologists, neurologists, and other researchers have been analyzing our ability to perceive snarky remarks and gaining new insights into how the mind works. Their studies have shown that exposure to sarcasm enhances creative problem solving, for instance.
You could say sarcasm detection is an essential skill if one is going to function in a modern society dripping with irony. "Our culture, in particular, is permeated with sarcasm,” Katherine Rankin, a neuropsychologist at the University of California at San Francisco, told Smithsonian Magazine. "People who don't understand sarcasm are immediately noticed. They're not getting it. They're not socially adept."
Sarcasm is so popular in 21st-century America that according to one study of a database of telephone conversations, 23 percent of the time that the phrase "Yeah, right" was used, it was uttered sarcastically.
Entire phrases have almost lost their literal meanings because they are so frequently said with a sneer. Take "Big deal," for example. When was the last time someone said that to you and actually meant it? "My heart bleeds for you" almost always equals "Tell it to someone who cares," and "Aren’t you special" means you aren’t.
"It's practically the primary language in modern society," John Haiman, a linguist at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and the author of Talk is Cheap: Sarcasm, Alienation and the Evolution of Language, said.
#6
Madison Feehan 3 years ago
Let's start normalizing the fact that clothes are really expensive and deserve to be worn more than once!
Sarcastic statements are sort of a true lie. People are saying something they don’t literally mean, but the communication works as intended only if their listener gets that they're insincere.
Some language experts suggest sarcasm is used as a sort of gentler insult, a way to tone down criticism, but their opponents have found that the mocking, smug, superior nature of sarcasm is perceived as more hurtful than a plain-spoken criticism.
The Greek root for sarcasm, sarkazein, means to tear flesh like dogs. Haiman thinks dog-eat-dog sarcastic commentary is just part of our quest to be cool. "You're distancing yourself, you're making yourself superior. If you're sincere all the time, you seem naive."
#9
Madison Feehan 3 years ago
I was going to comment something smart but I'm so tired. I'll do it tomorrow.
Research has also shown that sarcasm can be easily misinterpreted, especially when served electronically. In one study, 30 pairs of university students were given a list of statements to communicate, half of which were sarcastic and half of which were serious: some students communicated their messages via e-mail and others via voice recordings.
Participants who received the voice messages accurately gleaned the sarcasm (or lack thereof) 73 percent of the time, but those who received the statements via e-mail did so only 56 percent of the time, hardly better than chance. Additionally, the e-mailers had anticipated that 78 percent of participants would pick up on the sarcasm inherent in their sarcastic statements. That is, they badly overestimated their ability to communicate their tone.
At least sarcasm goes well with memes!
#12
DennyS (denzoren) 3 years ago
Those were the days. Spending all night reading...simpler times.
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WilvanderHeijden 3 years ago
According to my dietician the worst thing you can do is eat or drink on an empty stomach, at least that's what I understood when I read her list of do's and don'ts.
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Madison Feehan 3 years ago
POV: When your friend brings one of their other friends to lunch but you don't know the other friend so you just sit there awkwardly while they reminisce about something they did 4 years ago.
#25
Ragnhild Nilsen 3 years ago
And even after a whole year you can start the conversation just where you left it and be sure they understand your twisted mind
#26
Madison Feehan 3 years ago
I hope it's not a chili pepper cake, because you don't need the extra burn.
#28
Justine 3 years ago
I used to be the first pic because I used to care what others though of me - and I suffered (we have harsh harsh winters). Now I am the second pic and couldn't be happier - not just because it's warm and cozy, but also because I freed myself of wanting others to like my looks.
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Madison Feehan 3 years ago
Well yeah that's why its called "after work". I don't exist to the outside world after 8pm.
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Demi Zwaan 3 years ago
Yup, rich will do that to you. All the money in the world for surgery, injections, make-up and photoshop.
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Julia Atkinson 3 years ago
When you realise that you're basically the "before" in painkiller ads
#53
Raven Sheridan 3 years ago
All I need is some plutonium, a De Lorean, a flux capacitor and enough road to reach 88 miles per hour, and I can do it!
#54
WilvanderHeijden 3 years ago
30 minute sauna, 10 minute cool down, 5 minute shower = 45 minutes.
#55
WilvanderHeijden 3 years ago
From my experience: when someone is too cheerful in the morning it's not going to be a good day.
#56
Julia Atkinson 3 years ago
Me: "Do these idiots never watch Forensic Files/know how hot a crematorium furnace has to be/understand that there are security cameras everywhere?"
#58
Kimi Tomminello 3 years ago
"You look different with facial hair." Same thing- of course you're going to look different with something else on your face that wasn't there before captain obvious.
#59
WilvanderHeijden 3 years ago
You haven't even hit the age where 18 year olds start lecturing you on how to do your job, you have not suffered enough to deserve retirement.
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Carol Hume 3 years ago
7am if only. What a luxury. Small people in my house think that 5.20 is when we should all start the day and I hate it.
#66
ZAPanda 3 years ago
Funny but unsurprisingly hotness doesn't always correlate with worth being in a relationship. I've found some attractive people - especially men - are very narcissistic and make everything about themselves, whereas less attractive people are often nicer people. So, it depends on what you want - a stamp on the fuselage or an actual relationship.
#68
ChimeraBubbles 3 years ago
Hormonal birth control makes me swing wildly between rage and depression! So, no hormonal birth control for me. Would love to have a sterilisation operation but they won't give it to me because of previous abdominal surgery. Yay for condoms!
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TheLilacButterfly 3 years ago
*hides math test results behind back* don't worry, a C is still a good grade!
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Julia Atkinson 3 years ago
"If I wear four pairs of socks there should be enough room for the sandwich toaster"
#81
Layla Corman 3 years ago
Friends and family: What do you want to do for your B-day? Me: Nothing! It is just another day. Don't make a big deal! Also me:
#84
Jasper Cool 3 years ago
Idk if it was having a kid or turning 40 but the water retention is crazy. I look like two different people from day to day depending on my liquid intake.
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Jaime Blackwater 3 years ago
Eh, sounds like a waste of time. Look for people who don't expect you to jump through hoops and do tricks.
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WilvanderHeijden 3 years ago
It's not the falling that kills you. It's hitting the ground that does the trick.
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Julia Atkinson 3 years ago
Your friends, knowing all too well that ugly crying and vomiting are just round the corner
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#95
Raven Sheridan 3 years ago
This is where you embrace single life and begin your cat collection.
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What do you think ?
Anton Swanepoel 3 years ago
I'm sat here trying to figure out if the person that put these together actually knows what sarcasm is.
Anton Swanepoel 3 years ago
I'm sat here trying to figure out if the person that put these together actually knows what sarcasm is.
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