Sarcasm and Americans

The concept is not foreign it is just that most Americans are limited in their grasp of the English language to get the subtlities of it. My wife taught English at the University and I helped grade her papers. It was amazing the number of errors and poor use of tropes and metaphors, not to mention irony and sarcasm in them. We had many hours of laughter from reading them. The rule was if there were 4 or more then it went back for a rewrite.

The nomenclature is doubtless offputting for the younger generation. If this could be updated, recognition and appreciation of these nuances might follow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trope_(linguistics)

Oh, yah it's CRAZY we NEVER use sarcasm EVER it's like we hold the queen of sarcasm in our secret bay only to let her out to eat.

Sarcasm at it's best

Guys, OMG, come on.  Americans?  We're not sarcastic at all.  Please.

This post nicely illustrates the difference between the subtlety of the Brits and the blatantnessnessness of the Americans.

'I could care less' is not sarcastic, it's just lazy language. There's a difference...

artfizz: "Canadian humour is in the formatting." - nice :)

Amnesiac: sarcasm is the base form of wit, ergo what all other wit is based upon; that quote is often misrepresented.

Just from personal experience, it does seem a lot of the time that Americans have a hard time telling if British people are serious or not. It is fun watching them try to work it out.

Yes, I think the origin of "I could care less" is that if "I couldn't care less" is said quickly and not very clearly, it can be misheard as "I could care less".  So people just started saying that, and not bothering (or realising) that it meant the exact opposite of what they intended. My claim of "not realising" is based on having discussed this with someone who used the phrase: it had not occurred to them that the literal meaning was wrong.

Please excuse me for writing a whole paragraph in this thread without any sarcasm in it, which is rather lazy of me.

Sarcasm is,essentially,insolence with a safety net for the perpetrator.

For example...   'A' delivers a remark,ostensibly directed at 'B', in the hope that 'B' will not 'get it' and that 'C' will. Thus,'A' and 'C' enjoy a joke at the expense of 'B'.

If 'B' does 'get it' then 'A' simply explains that the remark was sarcastic and that therefore 'B' didn't 'get it' after all.

If 'B' not only 'gets it',but also correctly identifies the remark as sarcastic,then 'A' simply declares that the remark was not sarcastic at all and was to be taken literally. Thus,'B' still didn't 'get it'.

In all cases, 'A' gets away with saying anything he/she likes without being held to account for it.

You just don't get it, do you.

Ladies and gentlemen,     I rest my case.

Watch friends... Americans get sarcasm :)

Romanians don't though! :)

Sarcasm doesn't come across as well in print as it does when spoken.

We Americans just love the stereotypes other people sort us into.

strauss senior syndrome!

it eats you brits up that we won the war, threw off your chains & became more successful than you:

care for some... tea, gov'nah?     😆

Great example of sarcasm... Good work :)

And stereotyping... In the same post. Am only just appreciating your comedy genius :)

also referencing the boston tea party whilst referring to our former governors.

Yes... That's just come up on a recent Outlander episode.

gee whiz:  i wonder how that will turn out?