We need a sarcasm mark, happy mutant people!

21

Do we use them all together?

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Dā€™oh!!! Mā€™SRRYā€¦

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Sarcasm is often ironic.

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But is irony always sarcastic?

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But in speech, you often want to be ambiguous about it, in order for folks who successfully grasp your meaning to feel like they got something worth getting.

No ambiguity is possible in text with an obvious symbol doing the job.

1 Like
26

Sine the backwards questionmark isnā€™t exactly easy to type (dotto for the upside down exclaimation point for us USicans) Iā€™d go with either [?] or just the old standby of [/sarcasm] psudotagging.

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Look, sarcasm is lost on the lazy. Thatā€™s all Iā€™m saying.

3 Likes
28

I always associated that emoticon with happy shiny anime eyes.

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The problem is this: if you have a mark to deliniate sarcasm, then using it stops your comment from being sarcastic, because sarcasm is an /implied/ reversal of meaning.
Also, it will lead to a sarcastic use of Āæsarcasm quotesĀæ - which would be confusing to say the leastā€¦

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30

Itā€™d be best* if the sarcmark was on the standard keyboard for mobile devices. More people could use it if so.

*best for me too, as I access BB via my phone at my 9-5

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I always thought the :\ thing sort of denoted sarcasm if used at the right time, as people often make that sort of crooked face when theyā€™re being dramatically sarcastic.

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I have always used the ~ as surrounding marks.

I ~really~ want to be ~your~ friend. It conveys a certain drawn out tone.

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Boingers: I am disappoint. Such a thing already exists: www.sarcmark.com and has previously been discussed on many a BB post: http://boingboing.net/2013/02/13/proposal-for-a-new-punctuation.html#comment-797974660

PS: Cleverly conceived writing is the solution, not more punctuation marks. Did any of the classic literary authors need a sarc mark?

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34

And isnā€™t it ironic, donā€™t you think?

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This concept, and variations on it, have been discussed extensively in the past, albeit not on BB.

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Hmmm, I definitely agree that most sarcasm is very poorly done. It is the lowest form of humor, after all.

However, many of the readers on the internet (as in the world) are so thick that unless you scream ā€˜THIS IS A JOKE YOU STUPID SODDING BASTARDā€™ and beat them around the head with a tuna they will not realize this, even if itā€™s Voltaire or Sedaris. There is some advantage to being able to point and tsk when these people inevitably accuse you of being a proponent of gay marriage.

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Equal Rights for Sarcasm - Use the SarcMark [sarcmark] Ā®
So do they really want us to use the SarcMarkĀ® or not? I thought this would make things clearer!

Edit: Itā€™s only compatible on IE, so I guess it is a joke after all.

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38

I thought slapstick was the lowest form of humour.

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39

Agreed. I think sarcasm can be a high form of humor. CAN be.

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40

A mark to signify a subtle form of humour? Like a text version of exclaiming ā€˜NOT!ā€™ at the end of a joke? As a British person this upsets me.

6 Likes