Knowing what sarcasm is, you can jokingly hurt a person, point out mistakes or even offend him. This style of talking is aimed at making you laugh, but with a touch of black humor. You can hear sarcasm almost everywhere, from bosses to your own children.
Sarcasm - what is it?
There are many jokers in our world and they are different. If someone starts to make fun of another, then he uses a technique that since ancient times was considered accessible only to people of high ranks and ranks. To understand what sarcasm means, you need to turn to the origins of the origin of this word.
It has Greek roots and several translations: “tearing the flesh”, “tearing the meat”, “biting the lips”, probably referring to the state of a person who heard something unpleasant addressed to him, dressed in the form of a joke. Dictionaries explain the meaning of this word as an evil mockery, an offensive, insulting joke, with which they want to put someone in a negative light.
How to recognize sarcasm?
Distinguishing sarcastic statements from ironic or humorous ones is very simple. Each of them has its own semantic meaning. The least offensive are humorous jokes that can make you think and laugh at a problem or a person without humiliating or insulting him. Irony is more of a "poisonous lady". She can afford not only to joke, but also not very painful to prick with this or that phrase.
Even fleeting statements with sarcasm are especially sharp, poisonous and offensive, but it is important with what message they are pronounced. At the same time, the speaker, as a rule, perfectly understands that he is offending a person, but this is what he achieves. In this case, it is worth responding correctly to the words in order not to close in yourself.
How to respond to sarcasm?
A difficult and very painful question is how to relate to this speech style from another person and how to respond to it. It has been noticed that sharp sarcasm does not sound about everyone in a row, but about those who allow such jokes in their address. Often, such a person turns into a "whipping boy", and everyone who is not lazy is joking at him with or without reason. You need to protect yourself from offensive jokes and you can do it in the following ways:
- get rid of complexes;
- learn to respond with sarcasm to sarcasm;
- Attend personal development courses whenever possible.
Psychologists say that ridicule is allowed against people who are notorious, suffering from various fears or constant, often without even realizing what they are to blame for. This can continue exactly until offensive words are heard in response to the offender, and this will be done in public. As practice shows, a sharp, no less sarcastic answer sobers up a presumptuous joker.
Sarcasm and irony - the difference
In order not to be offended by any joke and not to make a tragedy out of every word, you need to understand where sarcasm and irony are, how they differ. If everything is clear about sarcasm, with which they want to openly offend a person, then irony, having a negative evaluative content, is more veiled. She may not directly, but covertly express ridicule or exposure. Sarcasm is a cruder and more offensive form of a joke. As for irony, one should try to catch its subtle meaning, which is not given to everyone.
Sarcasm - good or bad?
If we are talking about those who often use sarcastic statements, then as a rule they are smart people, but to one degree or another deprived of attention, love, care. Or, on the contrary, they are satiated with the blessings of life and consider only themselves worthy of attention. True, such minions of fate, as a rule, in their evil jokes roll down to banal rudeness, ideally not understanding what sarcasm is.
The entertaining art of sarcasm has nothing to do with it, since it presupposes mastery of the word, its skillful use. At the same time, the addressee of sarcasm is quite specific, and the thought, accompanied by a sharp and evil joke, is clear. No need to guess whether sarcasm is good or bad. Depending on whose hands this weapon is in, the result of its shot may be different. At the same time, one should not forget that the wonderful actress Faina Ranevskaya became famous not only for her acting skills, but also for her sarcastic phrases that are relevant and have long been quoted.
- It is better to be a good person, "swearing" than a quiet, well-mannered creature.
- Horseradish, put on the opinions of others, provides a calm and happy life.
- Under the most beautiful tail of a peacock hides the most ordinary chicken ass. So less pathos, gentlemen.
- Why are all women so stupid?
- Do you know what it's like to act in films? Imagine that you are washing in a bathhouse, and a tour is being led there.
- To gain recognition, one must, even must, die.
- Lesbianism, homosexuality, masochism, sadism are not perversions. There are, in fact, only two perversions: field hockey and ballet on ice.
- Everything pleasant in this world is either harmful, or immoral, or leads to obesity.
- I hate you. Wherever I go, everyone looks around and says: “Look, this is Mulya, don’t annoy me, she’s coming.”
- Women are smarter, of course. Have you ever heard of a woman who would lose her head just because a man has beautiful legs?
- Talent is self-doubt and painful dissatisfaction with yourself and your shortcomings, which I have never seen in mediocrity.
- I am watching this film for the fourth time and I must tell you that today the actors played like never before.
How to learn sarcasm?
Be that as it may, sarcasm implies the impudent behavior of a person and him, but if you start using it incorrectly, you can run into big trouble. Those who want to make sarcastic jokes should know how to learn sarcasm and irony without embarrassing themselves. The main thing, if you want to hurt someone, you need:
If you begin to rapidly practice yourself in ironic statements, then in a month it will be possible to show off your eloquence. The main thing is not to go too far, because sarcasm, although humor, is sometimes offensive. In life, this skill is very useful, because a well-formed speech with notes of impudence helps to open many doors.
Sarcasm and sense of humor
Practically in any speech there should be a piece of humor. Sarcasm is humor, only with the addition of mockery. In other words, these are two styles of speech, the existence of which is impossible without each other. Shy people cannot use them in their speech and this is where the misunderstanding of sarcasm comes from. By developing one ability in himself, a person automatically learns the second. The main plus is that having learned to joke boldly, people can also have a status in society.
In Russian, there are many different words that are used in everyday life literally every day. However, people do not always know their meaning and origin.
The situation is similar with the well-known word "sarcasm". We often hear this word in phrases like "actually it was sarcasm." Let's take a look at its origin.
The word "sarcasm" first appeared in Greece, a little later the British already used it in their speech, and only then did it appear in Russia.
What is sarcasm
Sarcasm is a hidden, veiled ridicule of a situation or a person, his act, behavior.
- Belittling a person, his intellectual abilities;
- Making fun of the situation, the behavior of people in this situation;
- Demonstration of his superiority over the person in relation to whom sarcasm was expressed;
- Expression of non-acceptance of people's behavior in a given situation;
- Condemnation of a person, his actions.
A person expressing sarcasm is trying to take an arrogant position, to indicate his unshakable rightness and exalted position in relation to the surrounding people.
Sarcastic statements can be in the form of a single word or a whole phrase.
Examples of sarcasm are the following phrases:
- “thank you, helped” (these words express the author’s sarcasm at the behavior of the interlocutor, that is, they reflect the actions of a person committed by him with positive goals, but the result of which negatively affected the author. Because of this, he exaggerates thanks to the interlocutor);
- “well, well, keep it up” (the author does not believe in the achievement of the goal by the interlocutor. Most often this happens when the author advises a person to act in a certain way in order, for example, to achieve this or that result, and the interlocutor does not recognize the author’s rightness and decides to do his own thing)
- "Are you so handsome today?" (a person who asks a similar question expresses his ridicule of appearance interlocutor, if he does not look appropriate, or he emphasizes, for example, a too elegant appearance of a person on an ordinary day, which does not require special embellishment. The author of a sarcastic statement makes fun of a person without showing aggression);
- "Just a great job!" (in this case, there is not praise for the work done, but rather indignation, dissatisfaction with the end result. As a rule, the author is in an extremely irritated state at this moment).
Signs of sarcasm
Many people do not understand how to distinguish sarcasm from a serious statement.
It is important to know that sarcasm as a phenomenon and statement has a number of features that characterize it. Quite often, knowing them, a person is able to distinguish sarcasm from any other statement.
One of the main signs of sarcasm is ridicule (ridicule). A person uttering a sarcastic phrase wants to laugh at a person or create a situation in which others will laugh at him. The so-called "joke" can be pronounced with a serious intonation, without a hint of laughter.
Another sign of sarcasm is causticity (the phrase is not pronounced with the aim of causing laughter in people, but with the aim of belittling others with the help of personal arrogance and exaltation of one's personality). Sarcasm does not exist without sarcasm.
Schadenfreude - feature sarcastic statement, which logically "follows" from causticity. A joke uttered with sarcasm has an evil connotation.
Often sarcasm is characterized by ruthlessness. A person wants to play a joke on other people, often without thinking that a joke can hurt a person’s feelings or belittle his honor and dignity.
Thus, sarcasm can be called a cruel joke. The above signs are more subjective than objective. That is, in reality, a sarcastic statement does not always have such characteristics. He may also have other negative features: hatred (the interlocutor may experience a feeling of hatred towards the one he is joking at, which is why, in fact, he chooses this form of joke), personal dislike for the interlocutor.
However, it is impossible not to note the use of sarcasm without malicious intent. For example, friends can play pranks on each other without malicious intent. This is done specifically to create a fun atmosphere, make a friend or group of friends laugh.
Nevertheless, it is recommended to be careful with the use of sarcasm so as not to offend a person, not to hurt his feelings, not to belittle his dignity. Show respect for others, do not try to humiliate a person, this may adversely affect his reputation and psychological state.
Sarcasm: what is it for the current generation? A way to humiliate the interlocutor or just to laugh witty, hiding your mockery well behind words that are incomprehensible to the “victim”? Recently, the special social activity of adolescents, the word "sarcasm" has lost itself, instead of it, the concept of "trolling" has come into use. But what is the true meaning of the word "sarcasm", when should it be used, and how is it different from trolling?
What is sarcasm
If you quote all the common truths, then this is the highest degree of irony. Sarcasm is a well-hidden mockery of an opponent. Just by insulting someone in plain text, you can feel like an outright boor or even cattle. But if you disguise your caustic expression in front of the interlocutor, express what you want to him and at the same time remain unnoticed, receiving only an awkward, barely smiling nod in response due to a misunderstanding of what was said, then there is no longer such a feeling that you are the last inhabitant of the most untidy local tavern. From here, answering the question of what sarcasm is, we can approach the main indispensable detail of such a mockery. Sarcasm is not just an opportunity to laugh at a person, it is the ability to express something negative in his face, hiding what was said in a kind of joke. It is absolutely merciless in nature, since it is designed to expose the opponent. Therefore, sarcasm is often harsh and does not “soften the corners”, sometimes even not weakly offending the interlocutor. This technique is very fond of using people from TV screens, namely the hosts of various shows, politicians, various stars and so on. Since the current generation has advanced quite a lot, it is now very fashionable to post sarcastic messages on personal micro-blogs on Twitter and Vkontakte. So, if we talk about what sarcasm is now, then this is often a way to humiliate a person in public, using their instant information dissemination capabilities (it is enough for a famous person to write just one tweet so that the entire Internet community is aware of the matter in the next few minutes).
The difference between the meanings of "sarcasm" and "trolling"
If you do not go into details, then these two concepts really strongly resemble each other, however, the new term (relatively) does not quite accurately convey the idea of sarcasm. This enchanting taunt must be properly managed, because in some cases the opponent may simply be smarter, responding with a much stronger sarcastic expression. You should also think about whether you would like the interlocutor to understand the mockery, or do you need the other listeners to understand it? It is important. However, this does not matter if the "victim" does not know what sarcasm is, in which case the mockery will not come out interesting enough. Trolls use sarcasm as one of their main tools to mock and ridicule their "victims". They do it for no reason, often not with the aim of showing themselves smarter, and others - dumber - which is why sarcasm itself is needed - but only for humiliation and just for the sake of an argument from scratch. But be that as it may, sarcasm will always be alive, because although it does not carry anything positive in itself, however, it makes a person feel a little more pleasant when sarcastic expressions turn out to be really successful.
Publication date: 10/12/2012Sarcasm shows the sharpness of a person's mind. Sarcasm allows you to subtly make fun of politicians and other narrow-minded inhabitants. Sarcasm gives you self-satisfaction and helps you vent negative emotions.
What it is?
The scientific definition is:
“Sarcasm (Greek σαρκασμ?ς, from σαρκ?ζω, literally “to tear [meat]”) is one of the types of satirical exposure, caustic mockery, the highest degree of irony, based not only on the increased contrast of the implied and expressed, but also on the immediate intentional exposure of the implied"
Agree this definition too "dry" and does not give answers to many questions. Sarcasm is a mockery of a person, object or phenomenon. Sarcasm is always negative. However, sarcasm is not just a caustic mockery, it is the ability to construct a sentence in such a way as not to openly declare one's disdain. Those. sarcasm is "veiled" ridicule.
For example:
If you are upset by the thinking abilities of a person, then you can tell him this:
"You, Ivan Ivanovich, are a complete idiot!" However, such a phrase sounds very hostile. Moreover, if Ivan Ivanovich is not your friend, but just an acquaintance, because friends will most likely perceive such a phrase as a subtle joke.
Or you can say this phrase in a different way, using the skill of speaking with sarcasm:
“Ivan Ivanovich, your mental skills amaze me with their unimaginable depth!”
How does it sound! Ivan Ivanovich will not understand what you are hinting at, but you will feel like a kind of tough guy.
Thus, we come to the main purpose of sarcasm. Sarcasm is the ability to tell people the bitter truth in the face, passing it off as a subtle joke.
Sarcasm is merciless! And therefore, sarcasm very often is not just incriminating, and sometimes even offensive. Sarcasm is used by politicians, show business stars and scientists with big names. And this means that sarcasm can be used as good man, and bad.
Why is Sarcasm necessary?
Sarcasm is a verbal weapon. Sarcasm sounds witty, and therefore loved by people. Sarcasm can be obvious, or it can be veiled and understandable only to the speaker.
If you want to mock someone sarcastically, then correctly assess the mental abilities of your “victim”. Your interlocutor may be smarter than you, and therefore your sarcasm will be answered with even more cruel mockery, then you will lose "in your own field."
The main thing is to understand what goal you are pursuing using sarcasm. Do you want your interlocutor to understand your ridicule, or do you want to convey the essence of ridicule to third parties.
Psychologists say that sarcasm is a sign of a healthy mind. People often use sarcasm unconsciously. At the same time, comedians never use sarcasm. Sarcasm does not cause stormy joys and fun, like ordinary humor. Therefore, never use sarcasm in public, as politicians and other public figures do. It's like black PR. After all, almost any judgment can be used for a sarcastic response.
Sarcasm is often used by writers. Sarcasm received particular development during the development of Greek and Roman philosophy. Many philosophers have used sarcasm to ridicule totalitarian and stupid bureaucrats and rulers. Later, during the Renaissance, sarcasm received a vivid reflection as in literary works as well as in painting. Those mockeries that could not be expressed in words were expressed in pictures.
Sarcasm today
In the modern world, sarcasm has moved to the Internet. Almost everyone uses sarcasm on the Internet. Someone makes sarcastic memes, someone blogs, expressing their hatred in the form of sarcastic notes and entries.
Sarcasm on the Internet has gradually deformed. Sarcasm has turned into "trolling". Of course, trolling is not only sarcasm. People who engage in trolling are quite obviously called "trolls". The word "trolling" did not come from the word "troll", but from the word "trolling", which means "to fish with a lure." Trolls write provocative messages on the Internet, making others angry, furious, and also experience other warm feelings. The main weapon of the troll was and is sarcasm. The troll is easy to spot.
For example:
in a group (in social network), dedicated to vegetarians, the troll will leave such sarcastic messages:
“Man must necessarily eat meat. It's so laid down by nature"
Or more subtly (subtle trolling):
“Scientists have done an experiment. They took two lions: one was fed with a small amount of meat, and the other with a large amount of vegetables. A week later, the vegetarian lion died.”
Conclusions and results
Sarcasm is a subtle sarcastic joke. Although sarcasm has a negative connotation, people will always use it. Sarcasm is the ability to show yourself as smart and others as stupid.
If you do not understand the essence of this article, then your mental skills do not meet adequate standards :)
Thank you for your attention!
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SARKASM, -a, m. (book_). 1. A caustic mockery, an evil irony. In the voice sounds with. 2. A caustic, mocking remark.
Watch value SARCASM in other dictionaries
Sarcasm- m. sarcastic mockery, sharp, caustic.
Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary
Sarcasm- sarcasm, m. (from the Greek sarkasmos - torment) (book). 1. only units A caustic mockery, caustic irony. His speech was full of sarcasm. 2. Caustic-mocking remark. Throw in sarcasm.
Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov
Sarcasm M.- 1. Evil, caustic mockery, caustic irony. 2. A caustic, caustic-mocking remark, expression.
Explanatory Dictionary of Efremova
Sarcasm- Evil, caustic mockery, caustic irony. Sarcastic - expressing sarcasm, full of sarcasm.
Political vocabulary
Sarcasm- -a; m. [Greek. sarkazō (sarkasmos) - I tear meat]
1. Acerbic mockery, caustic irony. Speak and respond with sarcasm. Acrid, evil s.
2. A caustic remark. Stab with sarcasm. Throw in sarcasm.
Explanatory Dictionary of Kuznetsov
Sarcasm- Borrowed from French, where sarcasme goes back to the Greek sarcasmos.
Etymological Dictionary of Krylov
Sarcasm- (Greek sarkasmos - from sarkazo, lit. - I tear meat), stinging mockery, the highest degree of irony, based not only on the increased contrast of the implied and expressed, but also on ........
Big encyclopedic dictionary
Sarcasm- - I tear the meat - a caustic mockery, the highest degree of irony, based not only on the increased contrast of the implied and expressed, but also on the immediate intentional ........
Historical dictionary
