Sarcasm Mode: Difference between revisions

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Homer: Oh, look at me! I'm making people happy! I'm the Magical Man from Happy-Land, in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane! [leaves, slamming the door. Beat. pokes his head back in] By the way, I was being sarcastic. [slams door]
Marge: Well, duh.

—The Simpsons

Simply put, marking online text to indicate sarcasm.

Even verbally, sarcasm doesn't always carry over well. Some people just can't recognize it. Some people just can't express it. On the Internet it's worse. While it's bad writing practice to act out an emotion by merely stating that you feel that way, on the Internet it is sometimes necessary to indicate emotions such as sarcasm. Here is one way to mark it up:

sarcasm mode on You mean you can't hear voice inflections in text? sarcasm mode off

This is also seen in Faux HTML Tags: <sarcasm> </sarcasm> form. Usually with this kind of sarcasm tag, only the closing tag is used. It's not as much fun, and might even be insulting, to announce in advance that you're being sarcastic, and oh, how the world weeps when you're insulted, right? </sarcasm>

Some people display sarcasm by emphasizing certain words as one would in speech, usually by using italic font. Others however, just use words that are not common in natural speech, such as "Gosh, really?", "My goodness, I never would have guessed that", and "Gee willikers, that's so insightful." Other people have even proposed a sarcastic font.

Scare Quotes or Tradesnark™ may also be regarded as examples of this. Ditto for using capitalization to mock-assert that some type of Serious Business is being discussed.

Roger Ebert has a rather comprehensive essay on this very subject, titled "This is the Dawning of the Age of Credulity", written after people completely failed to appreciate the sarcasm behind an 'interview' he gave regarding Creationism. This, however, was due to Poe's Law.

Sarcasm mode is Older Than Radio: the irony mark, ؟, was proposed in the 19th century.

On Wikipedia, people have unsuccessfully tried to outlaw sarcasm, eventually culminating in this essay.^[1]

Users both here and on TV Tropes have been known to mark sarcasm in what they write by potholing the sarcasm in question to this page. Do NOT do this. It's a much better idea to just write in a way that makes the sarcasm clear. Limit the potholes to when it's actually necessary, like for showing the sarcasm in a quote whose sarcasm isn't apparent without the pothole.

Compare and contrast Sincerity Mode.

↑ Ironically, this essay is against sarcasm, and it gets this through by being entirely sarcastic.

[1] Ironically, this essay is against sarcasm, and it gets this through by being entirely sarcastic.

[1]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{trope}}
+{{Useful Notes}}
 {{quote|'''Homer:''' Oh, look at me! I'm making people happy! I'm the Magical Man from Happy-Land, in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane! ''[leaves, slamming the door. [[Beat]]. pokes his head back in]'' By the way, I was being sarcastic. ''[slams door]''
-'''Marge:''' [[Captain Obvious|Well, duh.]]|'''''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'''''}}
+'''Marge:''' [[Captain Obvious|Well, duh.]]
+|'''''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'''''}}
 Simply put, marking online text to indicate sarcasm.
-Even verbally, sarcasm doesn't always carry over well. [[Sarcasm Blind|Some people just can't recognize it.]] [[Cannot Convey Sarcasm|Some people just can't express it.]] On the Internet it's worse. While it's bad to [[That Makes Me Feel Angry|act out an emotion by merely stating that you feel that way]], on the Internet it is sometimes necessary to indicate emotions such as sarcasm. Here is one way to mark it up:
+Even verbally, sarcasm doesn't always carry over well. [[Sarcasm Blind|Some people just can't recognize it.]] [[Cannot Convey Sarcasm|Some people just can't express it.]] On the Internet it's worse. While it's bad writing practice to [[That Makes Me Feel Angry|act out an emotion by merely stating that you feel that way]], on the Internet it is sometimes necessary to indicate emotions such as sarcasm. Here is one way to mark it up:
 {{quote|''sarcasm mode on'' You mean you can't hear voice inflections in text? ''sarcasm mode off''}}
@@ Line 13: / Line 14: @@
 Some people display sarcasm by emphasizing certain words as one would in speech, usually by using [[Useful Notes/Fonts|italic font]]. Others however, just use words that are not common in natural speech, such as "Gosh, really?", "My goodness, I never would have guessed that", and "Gee willikers, that's so insightful." Other people have even proposed a sarcastic font.
-[[Scare Quotes]] or [[Tradesnark]] may also be regarded as examples of this. Ditto for using capitalization to mock-assert that some type of [[Serious Business]] is being discussed.
+[[Scare Quotes]] or [[Tradesnark™]] may also be regarded as examples of this. Ditto for using capitalization to mock-assert that some type of [[Serious Business]] is being discussed.
-[[Roger Ebert]] has a rather comprehensive essay on this very subject, titled [http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2008/09/this_is_the_dawning_of_the_age.html "This is the Dawning of the Age of Credulity"], written after people [[Sarcasm Failure|completely failed]] to appreciate the sarcasm behind an 'interview' he gave regarding Creationism. This, however, was due to [[Poe's Law]].
+[[Roger Ebert]] has a rather comprehensive essay on this very subject, titled [https://web.archive.org/web/20130224050056/http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2008/09/this_is_the_dawning_of_the_age.html "This is the Dawning of the Age of Credulity"], written after people [[Sarcasm Failure|completely failed]] to appreciate the sarcasm behind an 'interview' he gave regarding Creationism. This, however, was due to [[Poe's Law]].
 Sarcasm mode is [[Older Than Radio]]: the [[wikipedia:Irony mark|irony mark]], <big>'''؟'''</big>, was proposed in the 19th century.
@@ Line 21: / Line 22: @@
 On [[Wikipedia]], people have unsuccessfully tried to outlaw sarcasm, eventually culminating in [[wikipedia:Wikipedia:Sarcasm is really helpful|this essay]].<ref>Ironically, this essay is against sarcasm, and it gets this through by being entirely sarcastic.</ref>
-Users on [[TV Tropes]] tend to mark sarcasm in what they write by making the sentence in question and [[Pothole Magnet|potholing it to this page]]. '''Do NOT do this.''' It's a much better idea to just write in a way that makes the sarcasm clear. Limit the potholes to when it's actually necessary, like for showing the sarcasm in a quote whose sarcasm isn't apparent without the pothole.
+Users both here and on [[TV Tropes]] have been known to mark sarcasm in what they write by potholing the sarcasm in question [[Pothole Magnet|to this page]]. '''Do NOT do this.''' It's a much better idea to just write in a way that makes the sarcasm clear. Limit the potholes to when it's actually necessary, like for showing the sarcasm in a quote whose sarcasm isn't apparent without the pothole.
 Compare and contrast [[Sincerity Mode]].