• intensely_human
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      1 year ago

      No, the whole point of sarcasm is that it’s so easy to miss that it reinforces the (unspoken) real point you’re making.

      With sarcasm, you’re deliberately making a statement that doesn’t make sense, in order to sort of say “You already know the answer to that, and to demonstrate it to you I’m going to give you the wrong answer and you’re going to know it’s the wrong answer”.

      Like if someone says “Tomorrow we’re going to have a construction crew running a jackhammer all day in the hallway outside this office”, and someone responds with “Oh that oughta be helpful”, the real message is:

      • The jackhammer will NOT be helpful
      • I trust that everyone listening agrees with me
      • In order to demonstrate how much we’re in agreement, I will state the exact opposite
      • When you hear me state that opposite, your brain will reject it as nonsense

      It’s a way to emphasize the unarguable truth of a statement: you say the opposite as a demonstration to the listener that they cannot take it at face value.

    • snooggums@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      Kind of, but it only works when the audience knows that you are being sarcastic either by knowing you or some kind of context for them to know.

      If your audience doesn’t know you then it helps to be as absurd as possible.