Sarcasm on revleft.

[danyboy27]

Anyone here got advices to understand sarcasm on this freaking website?

English is not my native language (obviously) and i have recently been slammed for not understanding something that was supposed to be a joke.

Considering that there are batshit insane peoples on that website, how am i supposed to be able to know the differences between something that is supposed to be a joke and a serious batshit insane statement?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[hatzel]

I don't think it's possible, particularly considering a lot of the people using sarcasm don't speak English as a first language, either, so might not use the 'accepted' markers for sarcasm, like "yeah, right, because X definitely does Y" or something similar. To make matters worse, sometimes I honestly get the feeling that people say totally fucking crazy stuff and then when people complain at them and they realise that they said something utterly disgusting they try to backtrack by claiming it was a joke. Kind of like that guy in OI a few months ago who was restricted for that "yeah, you're mum's right, listen to her!" post after somebody's mum had said some really sexist/racist/homophobic/I-don't-remember-exactly stuff, and then ran around, "I was just making a joke, it was sarcasm, unrestrict meeeee...oh and by the way also gay pride marchers deserve to have their heads cracked open. What? Nooooo, that was sarcastic, too, it was! I'm not homophobic!" Anybody remember that guy?

I'm sure tonnes of people get away with calling for pretty extreme stuff, like mutilating people and stuff like that, and then weasel their way out of it with a "naaaaah, that was a parody of hardcore Stalinoids or whatever, ya dig?" when shit comes on top.

[danyboy27]

Personally i think the roll eye emoticon is a good way to avoid a misunderstanding, people should use it more often.

[Robespierre Richard]

Yeah people should, just for you.

[dodger]

I can't remember at what age my Ma used to tell me repeatedly "sarcasm is the lowest form of wit." It was pretty young. Perhaps we should have a flashing emoticon "j o k e"-----"I R O N Y"---"V I S U A L H U M O U R "--"I N F A N T I L E B A N T E R"...or even...../.."S N E E R".. "A p h o r i s m".....too..."G E N I U S I N S I G H T".....Can't help much Danny I live in a country where peoples manners, particularly young to old are exemplary.But. As soon as I attempt to speak their lingo...they wet themselves laughing---rush to tell their friends the latest injury I have inflicted to their dialect. That is before I have finished the sentence. My mother, well meaning, would when dealing with foreign people make strong eye contact, gesticulate with her hands, speak loudly and very, very very slowly. If it was an African or Arab, to break the ice, she would say "You must find it very cold here!".....inevitably they would reply..."Iwas born here"...But that never stopped her....Not much help Danny, I am afraid. Just hope the best friendships are built on a base of initial 'misunderstandings'.

[danyboy27]

Yeah people should, just for you.

Do you really think i am the only one here struggling with the issue?
You must be joking.

[danyboy27]

I can't remember at what age my Ma used to tell me repeatedly "sarcasm is the lowest form of wit." It was pretty young. Perhaps we should have a flashing emoticon "j o k e"-----"I R O N Y"---"V I S U A L H U M O U R "--"I N F A N T I L E B A N T E R"...or even...../.."S N E E R".. "A p h o r i s m".....too..."G E N I U S I N S I G H T".....Can't help much Danny I live in a country where peoples manners, particularly young to old are exemplary.But. As soon as I attempt to speak their lingo...they wet themselves laughing---rush to tell their friends the latest injury I have inflicted to their dialect. That is before I have finished the sentence. My mother, well meaning, would when dealing with foreign people make strong eye contact, gesticulate with her hands, speak loudly and very, very very slowly. If it was an African or Arab, to break the ice, she would say "You must find it very cold here!".....inevitably they would reply..."Iwas born here"...But that never stopped her....Not much help Danny, I am afraid. Just hope the best friendships are built on a base of initial 'misunderstandings'.
Well where i live People can be pretty rude has well and i understand what you mean, I just hate it when people give me shit beccause of the lack of clarity of their post.

[Robespierre Richard]

Do you really think i am the only one here struggling with the issue?
You must be joking.

See? You're starting to get it...

[Fawkes]

Anyone here got advices to understand sarcasm on this freaking website?

English is not my native language (obviously) and i have recently been slammed for not understanding something that was supposed to be a joke.

Considering that there are batshit insane peoples on that website, how am i supposed to be able to know the differences between something that is supposed to be a joke and a serious batshit insane statement?

Thanks in advance for your help.

It's really just a matter of familiarizing yourself more and more with the english language. Even then, sarcasm is a lot easier to detect when spoken rather than written. One thing that may be useful in detecting sarcasm is the usage of repeated vowels, e.g. "yeah, that tooootally makes sense". Sarcasm is often identifiable when spoken by particular enunciation that relies on a stretching of certain syllables, so people often try to translate that to text.

If you don't know, either ask the person or err on the side of caution and assume they're serious.

[Rafiq]

If you know the history of the user than you can tell he is being sarcastic (or not). Explosive situation is certainly not infamous for supporting the Iranian regime.

[Rooster]

ggXmKPMaHMo

As for a serious answer, you're just going to have to learn the character of certain users as to whether they're more or less likely to use sarcasm.

[danyboy27]

If you know the history of the user than you can tell he is being sarcastic (or not). Explosive situation is certainly not infamous for supporting the Iranian regime.

Peoples can change their mind about various subjects rather quickly around here and i dont keep track of what all the user stand for for that verry reason.

[Kitty_Paine]

Everything I say is sarcasm danyboy. :p

[The Young Pioneer]

Your English is terrible.

There has never been a hint of sarcasm on Revleft, I am not sure where you're getting that from.





Oh, btw ---> :rolleyes:

[Rafiq]

Peoples can change their mind about various subjects rather quickly around here and i dont keep track of what all the user stand for for that verry reason.

perhaps a visit to the user's profile wouldn't hurt?

[danyboy27]

perhaps a visit to the user's profile wouldn't hurt?

You mean in the same way you did with me and concluded i was an evil liberal pacifist assole?

[GiantMonkeyMan]

I've found that if you're unsure whether or not the post is sarcastic a good way to start your response would be simply to say "I really hope you're being sarcastic here because what you just said was ridiculous" or something along those lines. That way you understand that it could be sarcasm but you still slate the opinion presented.

[ColonelCossack]

I can't remember at what age my Ma used to tell me repeatedly "sarcasm is the lowest form of wit." It was pretty young. Perhaps we should have a flashing emoticon "j o k e"-----"I R O N Y"---"V I S U A L H U M O U R "--"I N F A N T I L E B A N T E R"...or even...../.."S N E E R".. "A p h o r i s m".....too..."G E N I U S I N S I G H T".....Can't help much Danny I live in a country where peoples manners, particularly young to old are exemplary.But. As soon as I attempt to speak their lingo...they wet themselves laughing---rush to tell their friends the latest injury I have inflicted to their dialect. That is before I have finished the sentence. My mother, well meaning, would when dealing with foreign people make strong eye contact, gesticulate with her hands, speak loudly and very, very very slowly. If it was an African or Arab, to break the ice, she would say "You must find it very cold here!".....inevitably they would reply..."Iwas born here"...But that never stopped her....Not much help Danny, I am afraid. Just hope the best friendships are built on a base of initial 'misunderstandings'.

Yes, really coherent... again.

[dodger]

Yes, really coherent... again.

I just K N O W that was not sarcasm!!!!!

[Agent Ducky]

I dunno, generally when someone makes a seemingly outrageous/out-of-place statement but then gets a bunch of thanks, especially from OP or people who agree with OP, that can be a sign of sarcasm.

[Tommy4ever]

You mean in the same way you did with me and concluded i was an evil liberal pacifist assole?

Yeah.

[ColonelCossack]

I just K N O W that was not sarcasm!!!!!

Yeah, because I understand what you mean.

[Sendo]

Curiosity here, do the Quebecois have sarcasm? I'm being serious. I live in Korea and they don't have irony or sarcasm here. It doesn't even properly translate without becoming saddled with a lot of baggage. There was a great parody documentary done for the Mr Pizza company that lampooned Nat Geo documentaries and nationalism. Some Koreans like it, those who didn't like it were baffled by it. All agreed that it had a very "foreign" sense of humor.

Of course there are exceptions. There are a smattering of Koreans whom I've met who can do sarcasm and irony very well. I myself can be very dry and bitterly ironic by American standards. (Often misunderstood at parties and social gatherings).

Anyone who has read "Che" by Jon Lee Anderson can see the cultural gap at work. Che's diaries attested to his grief over the fact that no one in Cuba understood his Argentinian humor. Cubans, instead, made playful and vulgar jokes involving toilet humor and comparing people to pigs and other animals.

If irony is not part of your culture, then it must be learned. It's more than just language. For example, sarcasm and irony are not always about eye-rolling and condescension. Maya Angelou (a black poet) said "Bill Clinton is the first African-American president of the US." She was being ironic, since Bill Clinton was infamous for doing all the things that the stereotypical black man supposedly does. (eg. constantly cheat on his wife). Eye-rolling doesn't make sense here.