"a computerized phone operator that understands sarcasm can be programmed to “get” the joke with “synthetic laughter" Yikes, that will be the day I throw out my phone!

So the British 'slow clap' would be the equivalent of blank-face sarcasm. Well done, Brits! Something to emulate.

I for one despise the use of sarcasm at the level it has risen to in our culture. it's like a sweet treat; it's tasty, and you love to eat it. but if you eat it too much your teeth go rotten and your health takes a dive and your breath stinks. and that is what I believe is happening to our language. also mike bonner makes a good point.

Yeah, canned laughter would go over really well the 20% of the time the algorithm failed :)

Nice to see you've split the article into three pages.

I think there is a misunderstanding between the meaning of sarcasm and irony. In my opinion they are very different things, though most of the times they are used together. Irony is just a sharp bladed knife that is neither good nor bad in itself. It's just a powerful tool. Sarcasm, however is the act of using that tool with the intention of hurting someone. I like irony and I use it a lot, but I hate sarcasm. I get it all the time and I used to smile on it, but every sarcastic comment being told to me just decreases my respect level towards that person. In my experience, the most sarcastic people are the ones with the most serious self-esteem issues. (too high or too low, but not healthy)

"Yeahhh. rightttttt." "Ohh surree." Oh nooo I couldn't possibly do thattt. Those are some examples of sarcasm

I was interested in the huge discrepancy between a northerner and southerner's appreciation for sarcasm. I would love to see an analysis applied east to west as well. As a New Englander who moved out to California for a stint, I found myself moving back home after 4 years in part due to a lack of appreciation for my well-honed sarcastic arts!

Really..? Wow,and you're really smart.. so... got to be true. Those who can't pick up on sacrcasm are potentially brain damaged, huh? No kidding? Those who can pick up on sarcasm and buy all of the junk force they're fed-every waking second are....? That's right, genious...(ok, going for maximum sacasm) Don't throw your iphone down the chute...nothing, ok, you're brain dead...yes, you are

One point to make, however, is that those of us who do not enjoy sarcasm are often perceived as people who do not get sarcasm. On the contrary, we understand the joke. We get the humor. We catch the sarcasm. We just don't particularly find it...funny. It's one thing to know something as humor. It's another to make me laugh. While there are many people who are oblivious to sarcasm, the sarcastic types among us need to really understand that, as others have mentioned, sarcasm can cut like a knife. It does have a negative tone to it. Language studies may suggest that sarcasm attenuates this negativity, but the attenuation is subjective. The lessening of its effect seems to benefit you and not the target of the sarcasm. Perhaps it hints at a greater level of insecurity, this lack of sincerity in American culture we have fostered.

Well, I think I liked this article, but I'm not sure yet. Maybe I could run it through a working sarcasm detector, then voice a stronger opinion. (Sarcasm turned off now) I love the great sarcasmic pearls of the 1950s radio comedies and detective series. Leaping ahead, I LOVE (sarcasm is dripping now) all the reality shows on TV.

Funny, that Americans would boost their ability to understand sarcasm.

Well... my family's portrait is in the Webster Dictionary when you look up this word. I personally think that humor and sarcasm are on a continuum... Sarcasm does tear the flesh... but humor and wit is a different story and often confused with the corniest of joke tellers. My soon to be X for one. Poor guy. I don't think he ever got me and I now I know I never got him. Heavy sigh.

Sarcasm is fascinating no matter how you look at it. One of the most comprehensive sources about sarcasm that I have been able to find online is published by the Sarcasm Society: http://www.sarcasmsociety.com/sarcasm.html

Interesting...

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Uhuh.

Re an earlier post: My husband is Japanese and we have lived in Hong Kong, Japan and other areas of the Pacific. Sarcasm doesn't seem to be just a "Western Thing" in our experience. I guess a lot of it depends on how well you can pick up the tone of voice and non-verbal clues.

I always recognize sarcasm immediately. I find that it is mean spirited and comes from hateful people. I like truth and telling it like it is straight up. I am not a naive person.
I will soon be 70 and have seen a lot of this world. There is no intellectual justification for deliberate, hateful speech.

The comments about cultural differences, may be more comments about the complexity of language. As an American in Paris I find learning the language much more difficult than I thought it would be (what do you call someone who speaks only one language? A polyglut? No, an American). And recognizing sarcasm may be the most difficult type of fluency. So are the French more polite than Americans? Oh, sure.

Interestingly enough, sarcasm seems to be an entirely western phenomenon. Sarcasm is almost non-existant in asian cultures. I learned this the hard way with my wife who is Korean. Any time I make a sarcastic comment, I have to explain that I'm being sarcastic. Its impossible to watch any kind of western satire with her. And it's not just her, I've had this experience with many other Koreans and Japanese as well.

Let it be noted that people on the autistic spectrum and those with non-verbal learning disabilities tend not to process the language of sarcasm. Due to the wiring of their brains, they lack a cohesive "theory of mind" and literally need to be taught what sarcasm is and means. This contributes to their social awkwardness and difficulty connecting with other people. I'm certainly not admonishing the use of sarcasm because I personally love it. It would be helpful for people in general to be cognizant of the fact that some individuals simply do not intuitively "get" the dialect of sarcasm within their spoken language.

One has to be witty to understand sarcasm or maybe not.

I love sarcasm. I wish it would translate through digital communication better instead of being misunderstood. I agree with the article about how using sarcasm is a way of saying the truth which can be considered harsh, without actually being mean. Great article and fun read.

I really enjoyed this article. Coming from a very large family full of very sarcastic individuals, I have certainly seen the positive and negative sides of sarcasm several times. I think that, while sarcasm can be a great aspect of journalism, it is very important to watch when and where it is used.

The use of sarcasm through social media has really blossomed our ability to put our own personal stamp on the world.Without sarcasm I know that work and school would be even more of a challenge. The issue with sarcasm is when do you use it? Its not okay to be sarcastic all the time and to everyone, this is the grey area that I don't like. Someone can find what you think is a joke/funny to be rude and offensive. I often see this with people saying someone is crude when I believe they are hilarious. It's important to know your boundaries and where to draw the line.

The use of sarcasm isnt limited to people in the USA - I know many Europeans (esp. form the UK and some northern european countries) that are extremely sarcastic. One individual in particular rarely responds to comments or questions without a sarcastic remark even in professional settings.

What an interesting article. Yeah.

Clarita touched upon an interesting point, but the process of language learning may be even more relevant than culture. If very young children are learning this art at the same time they are learning language this suggests a connection.

I found the NY/TN distinction interesting. There are several possible correlations there. I'll not mention them lest I seem sarcastic.

Another possible area of correlation is in the difference between American humor and British humour.

Lisa B: "Collude"'s Latin roots suggest playing together. Is it better to collude than collide?

When I was an adolescent I was REALLY sarcastic. All the time. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that after transferring to a new school as a kid I was teased a lot and had a hard time sticking up for myself. I think in that sense I had been "socially inept" because I had come from a very positive and friendly environment, so I didn't know how to respond and it usually made the situation worse. So when I finally DID get a handle on the situation I became bitingly sarcastic, at school and with my family. On the family front, my parents were NOT sarcastic at all but I think for me, I was responding to the fact that I was kind of an "academic" kid surrounded by decidedly non-academic adults and cousins. Being the youngest child in my extended family, I always felt patronized and belittled while constantly having those same people tell me how smart I was. So yeah, I think I did believe myself to be "smarter" than those adults and thus became very sarcastic with them because I didn't like how they treated me.
In the end though, my sarcasm was a defense-mechanism to help me deal with my insecurity. As I got older I toned it down, especially once my family started treating me like an adult. I'm sure I whip the sarcasm out a lot more when I feel like I'm being belittled. Tit for tat, or whatever. I think I'm probably a lot nicer now, although I have friends with whom I am mutually sarcastic. But it's all for a laugh and I don't think any of us end up seriously offended.

Our family Thanksgiving celebration was filled with sarcasm, laughter, and much wine. A great time!

Very interesting that two academics who work with "gifted" students each comment that sarcasm is particularly dangerous to children. Maybe if we didn't coddle children (by calling them "gifted") and instead challenged them to become our intellectual equals, we would have far more people with an honest and healthy sense of self worth.

I disagree with Haiman saying that the sarcastic version of "thank you" is sarcastic because it remembers an expression of disgust. This is because different languages like portuguese have similar sarcasm with the same tone and words with the same meaning, but they are far to be related to disgust. This makes me wonder that the English version of "thank you," the "you" sounding like disgust was just a coincidence.

What I believe is that we are just speaking in steps to not only give the person time to figure out, but also to alert the person that something is different (and therefore, the meaning could also be different).

No need to argue. You know I'm always right.

I'm just glad that I detect it - most of the time!

Two areas where sarcasm are challenging are becoming far too prevalent.

One is online. "Yeah, I really liked your article" is impossible to parse without the help of text formatting like italics, or god help us, emoticons. Long considered the "pun" of typography (ie, its lowest form), they actually fill a need - to attempt to carry facial expressions in text, to allow the visual cues to be included in the message, albeit clumsily and more deliberately than when just having a conversation.

Another is in the growing number of autistic kids. My daughter has Aspergers, and as such has a very literal view of people's speech. She can tell when I'm kidding or being sarcastic (if only as a result of sheer repetition) but she cannot be sarcastic herself. She can quote a line from a TV show in which someone is sarcastic, but she cannot parse sarcasm herself; she only knows the person saying the line is telling a joke.

How many ironic hipsters does it take to change a light bulb? Whatever!

I can buy that developing a sense of irony makes you smarter and more creative--I can also buy that understanding when people are being subtly abusive takes a few brain cells--but really--Americans in general, especially teenagers and cowards, seem to have substituted a knack for passive aggression for a real sense of humor. I think your professor from Winona State is right about the status issue. Stephen Colbert is funny because he is a little man speaking truth to power. He would not be funny if he were making fun of poor people, which is, in general, the character of a great deal of so-called American humor. The sad and unfunny truth about American sarcasm is that it is often directed, in an artless and ham-fisted way, at those who are powerless to respond. It is often the weapon of choice for bullies. It's not funny, smart, or good communication, for someone to indicate that you are ugly, or stupid, or any number other cruel and unflattering things, and then be told that the speaker is kidding. Generally, they are not--their comments are not ironic--they're just mean and cowardly--and that's not smart.

Perhaps there are as many different kinds of sarcasm as there are people and how they use it in any given moment. What the intent is and how it comes across can always have some room for effective/loving communication or miscommunication, or pretty rarely something truely spiteful or mean. I really appreciate people who can use sarcasm in a loving healthy thought provoking way, not something that comes particularily naturally to me. I think it does, or it can, show a sign of acceptance or closeness, but it depends on the speaker's ability to understand the listner.

Heroh> If I have to sit through one more ironic hipster joke...

I'm not familiar with the genre. Are they like "What did the ironic hipster say to the bus driver…?" or more like "How many ironic hipsters does it take to change a light bulb?"?

Regarding teachers' use of sarcasm, it is not professional because sarcasm is appropriate only among persons of equal status. Otherwise, the persons at the lower level (students) are injured and unable to respond at an equal level. For teachers/professors who are frustrated or annoyed and wanting to provoke with one-liners, I repeat: Sarcasm is an unprofessional abuse of students.
Lyelle Palmer, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Winona State University, Instruction trainer.

dina said:

"and by the way, which brain diseases? refusing to detail this very key phrase is an example of bad science."

Wow, dina, aren't YOU the optimistic one!

But they do explain which brain diseases can be detected by the failure to understand sarcasm. It's on page 3, where frontotemporal dementia is discussed.

Really? wow!...

There's only one problem with sarcasm, and it's a big one: it's a particularly dishonest form of aggression. It's intended to segregate and reinforce social class, even in as small a "class" as the sarcastic person simply declaring his/her superiority over one other person.

It's a "clean hands" form of dirty fighting in many cases. Perhaps we need better forms of irony.

I'd like to know to which study and to which database of telephone conversations does Smithsonian Magazine refer and how were these conversations obtained. That is more interesting than the rest of this article.

Another factor that makes it difficult to detect sarcasm is culture or being a cultural outsider - I'm surprised the article didn't mention this. I did not understand sarcasm when I moved to the United States, although I am an intelligent person. I often find sarcasm to be mean. I also disagree that sarcasm is a feature of modern society - it may be more a part of Western culture. There are more sincere languages and cultures. I wonder if the Minnesota professor only did his studies in the US, or in other countries as well.

Steven Colbert isn't really right wing?

The Republicans sure could have used this before they invited Stephen Colbert to speak at their correspondents' dinner a few years ago. They thought Colbert was just like them, only more boastful, a quality that they really love. They didn't realize Colbert was really being sarcastic, until he laid it on at the dinner. To their horror, they finally realized Colbert was actually making fun of all of them, and they had not been able to figure that out until that night while he was speaking. Needless to say, the next day in the papers, they criticized him by saying he was "not funny".

Boy, THAT was an interesting article!
(Ex.)
Sarcasm, by its very double-layered nature, involves two processes of comprehension. The brain literally makes itself denser, or more hearty, with the connections and firings of axons and dendrites. I like the idea of a "gentler insult". Now that's an example of an "oxymoron" as well! I love language and all its nuances.

@Christopher Hurkmans - Puns are undoubtedly the lowest form of humor.

No one seems to be addressing sarcasm as a way of gossiping about third parties. This way, even though gossiping can be harmful, it is a way for two people to collude in conversation.

"So she decided that we needed to buy a new tablecloth."
"Well, that would solve all her problems."

So even though it is still a negative comment about someone, it isn't directly hurtful to the parties involved in the exchange.

sarcasm is an expression of s the perp's nastiness. s/he blames the world for everything. lazy thinkers. gottchas in the schoolyard. and by the way, which brain diseases? refusing to detail this very key phrase is an example of bad science.
and no, it is one sign of america's sickness: greed, psychotic neediness, "the world owes me a living."" see line 2.

> Our world would be a far better and safer place if people spoke authentically and with respect for each other.

Like you, I also don't respect people who don't speak authentically. How dare they soil and endanger my world!

Maybe the problem only appears to be how we treat others. Maybe a more effective thing to look at is how we believe our own thoughts. I've never seen "authenticity" or "respect", yet like you, I often judge others or myself in these areas. Perhaps judging others is prime inauthenticity. I notice the world's a better and safer place when I don't give credence to my judgments. They're just thoughts...

Oh, an article about sarcasm. Now THERE'S a fascinating subject!

Sarcasm is an art of speech and communication.
It's classy, worth-using in any occasion where high language style is appreciated.
but of course, u cannot use it to people who are sensitive with sarcastic style.

Know where u are, that's d point :)

I'm glad that people who don't have the ability to detect sarcasm (like those who are on the autism spectrum) where mentioned in this article.

Being on the spectrum myself, I definitely agree that being sincere all the time can give people the impression that you are naive.

It can also lead to some pretty serious misunderstandings! I'm always interested in why people choose to be sarcastic, how they decide that's the right interjection for the situation, and other people's reactions to it.

All very interesting!

I really enjoyed this article, as I was just having a discussion with my very sarcastic friend the other day. I am not a sarcastic person but I appreciate sarcasm and can detect it. In the article it says something along the lines of if you are sincere all the time, people think you are stupid. I think this is very true. I tend to be sincere and sometimes people don't realize it. I think that this article was great and that it is important to be able to adapt and comprehend people's sense of sarcasm and humor. I responded to this more on my blog: http://msicroff.wordpress.com/2011/11/19/detecting-sarcasm-essential-for-communication/

So, the Hebrew University Program is called SASI (sassy), right?

Mr. Chin's personal sarcasm-detectior seems to be operating at super-human levels. The Amazon reviewer who commented that a book was, "Great for insomniacs" was not engaging in sarcasm, but hyperbole. Sarcasm in that case would have been something along the lines of, "I couldn't put it down" or "Better than sex." Instead, the reviewer probably meant what was written, that the book in question was so tedious and non-riveting that it might be able to induce sleep even in insomniacs.

I was disappointed that no mention of the term 'sarchasm' was included in the article. This underused descriptor vividly captures the gulf that separates the employer of sarcasm, and the listener who just doesn't get it.

Whatever. (grin)

Linda Leviton is right on. This is what Jesus was referring to when he said to "shake the dust from your feet as testament again them." But for those who just can’t get enough sarcasm, Satan is a big fan – you know “the father of lies”. And that’s not sarcasm, that’s the truth. Remember Adam and Eve - "Oh, surely you will not die."

Sarcasm is the one-liner cousin of satire. When it's used properly it is a very effective tool for cracking social codes that are pernicious and false. When it's used carelessly, coming from the wrong mouth, it sounds drunk and ignorant.

really good article.

Perhaps constructive sarcasm, like constructive criticism, will be labeled as a good thing. Who knows what else social sciences will propose when they're running out of ideas.

Sarcasm is great, it beaks down barriers and breaks the ice...too bad if you don't use it or like it...you are missing out!!!

> linda leviton

Yes, it's extremely important to be po-faced at all times with children. They will respect you for it, because it's vital that they never feel that they've done anything wrong. Resentment and low self-esteem are the only possible consequences of being corrected. Look at the tea party, for instance.

Excessive use of sarcasm is a sign of immaturity, plain and simple. The need to feel superior to others, despite the fact that it exists in all of us (along with racism and sexism), is not an activity that should be indulged in, lest we take two steps backward for every step forward.

Like we really need your support.

Well said, Linda Leviton. I agree. Our world would be a far better and safer place if people spoke authentically and with respect for each other. That doesn't leave out humor, only the humor that hurts someone else.
Linda B.

Use of sarcasm is so culture-specific. My spouse is Japanese, and I had to cut the sarcasm pretty much altogether with him (which was hard for me, my mom was a genius in that speech genre). Just not on in a culture where one has to be exceptionally careful of others' reactions, and where group harmony is the be-all-end-all.

And on the cultural differences note, as for the finding that Southerners don't appreciate sarcasm as much as Northerners do, that finding had to be made by a clueless Yankee. I am from the North but lived several years in the South (yes, bless their little hearts). Southerners (women in particular) are masters of the veiled sarcastic compliment. They are true sarcastic artists, the target is often totally unaware of the cutting nature of the remark!

"Pexman said she has encountered children as young as 4 who say, “smooth move, mom” at a parent’s mistake."

And how often do those four-year-olds hear "smooth move" used without sarcasm? Isn't it just as likely that they've learned that this is something you can say when someone else makes a mistake?

Sarcasm among peers is one thing and can relieve tension etc. I was raised by a mother who used it as a put down on every occassion. Only now, after a great deal of introspection and revisiting th efive stages of grief have I come to accept the way I was raised. Sarcasm can be and, in my case, was absolutely devastating. I write this only to warn parents that using sarcasm on your children can have long-lasting and far-reaching deleterious effects.

Sarcasm is a form of wit best left to the thick skinned. p.s. why didn't this article discuss the true art form of creating and DELIVERING well-crafted sarcasm? I like to think I'm the Mozart of sarcasm...or the Rebecca Black.

Gee, this article was really insightful!

Sarcasm is almost always hostile and meant to put down, embarrass, or shame the person on the receiving end. It undermines trust in what is said, and contributes to building resentment and low self esteem, especially children. As a psychotherapist I stringly condemn the practice between parents ans children. Focus on the positive and see how it elicits a much better response and ultimately relationship. Save the sarcasm for someone less vulnerable.

No! Really?

I have long noted, and so have others, that extremists, whether right wing or left wing, have stunted senses of humor, especially regarding their own beliefs. A sense of humor means a sense of perspective and an ability to recognize that one's own beliefs and fellow believers can have flaws. Extremists, pretty much by definition, can't do that.

Whoever said that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit obviously isn't very good at it. You can overdo sarcasm though. Like colourful language, it needs to be used sparingly to have impact. Yeah, sure. =)

Very fascinating article!

But I feel to say so bluntly that people who fail to detect sarcasm are " not getting it. They’re not socially adept" may be true, it comes off as somewhat of a slight.

People with varying functionality of Aspergers or other ASD personality/behavioral disorders struggle to recognize or interpret the subtle body language or tone applied in sarcasm - but that doesn't make them socially backward!

Sometimes affected people can (after much exposure and modelling) learn to recognize sarcasm and appreciate irony. It simply takes MORE for them to see what is allegedly so apparent to the rest of us - (And yet how many of us completely miss 'dry' humour until it is pointed out?) Saying 'you dont get it' sounds like smug arrogance.

Frankly, NOT being able to detect the oft-employed 'lowest form' of humour might be not such a raw deal. If I have to sit through one more ironic hipster joke...

They found that Southerners don't appreciate sarcasm as much as Northerners?

Well, bless their little hearts.

Cool! (seriously)