Sarcasm v Irony

[EuropeanFootballMale]

Finally a place to complainh about this. Sarcasm != irony. It drives me crazy that nearly everyone on earth uses sarcasm as a synonym for irony. Also I hate that my post count is so low.

[falafel]

Finally a place to complainh about this. Sarcasm != irony. It drives me crazy that nearly everyone on earth uses sarcasm as a synonym for irony. Also I hate that my post count is so low.

To be completely accurate, it is verbal irony that most people confuse with sarcasm.

[wuapinmon]

The OED speaketh these 1s :

sarcasm, n.:

1. [wuap's note; there is no 2.] A sharp, bitter, or cutting expression or remark; a bitter gibe or taunt. Now usually in generalized sense: Sarcastic language; sarcastic meaning or purpose.

1579 E. K. in Spenser's Sheph. Cal. Oct., Glosse, Tom piper, an ironicall Sarcasmus, spoken in derision of these rude wits, whych [etc.]. 1581 J. BELL Haddon's Answ. Osor. 324 With this skoffe doth he note them..by a certayne figure called Sarcasmus. 1605 J. DOVE Confut. Atheism 38 He called the other Gods so, by a figure called Ironia, or Sarcasmus. 1621 BURTON Anat. Mel. I. ii. IV. IV, Many are of so petulant a spleene, and haue that figure Sarcasmus so often in their mouths,..that [etc.]. 1661 FELTHAM Resolves II. l. 284 Either a Sarcasmus against the voluptuous; or else, 'tis a milder counsel.

{beta} 1619 H. HUTTON Follie's Anat. (Percy Soc.) 10 Muse, shew the rigour of a satyres art, In harsh sarcasmes, dissonant and smart. 1690 C. NESSE Hist. & Myst. O. & N. Test. I. 234 No lye, but an irony..a witty way of speaking..such sarcasms Elijah used. 1725 BLACKWALL Introd. Class. (ed. 3) 179 When a dying or dead Person is insulted with Scoffs and ironical Tartness 'tis usually call'd a Sarcasm. 1814 SCOTT Ld. of Isles IV. xxviii, With many a sarcasm varied still On woman's wish, and woman's will! 1862 MRS. H. WOOD Channings I. ix. 133 He looked upon the remark as a bit of sarcasm. 1866 GEO. ELIOT F. Holt II. xxx. 227 Blows are sarcasms turned stupid. 1871 FREEMAN Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. 127 William's return was accompanied by a confiscation and distribution of laws on so wide a scale that it could be said with indignant sarcasm that he gave away the land of every man.

irony, n.

1. A figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words used; usually taking the form of sarcasm or ridicule in which laudatory expressions are used to imply condemnation or contempt.


1502 [see 3]. 1533 MORE Debell. Salem v. Wks. 939/1 When he calleth one self noughty lad, both a shreud boy & a good sonne, the tone in ye proper simple spech, the tother by the fygure of ironye or antiphrasis. 1540 COVERDALE Confut. Standish Wks. (Parker Soc.) II. 333 Now is ironia as much to say as a mockage, derision. 1589 PUTTENHAM Eng. Poesie III. xviii. (Arb.) 199 By the figure Ironia, which we call the drye mock. 1617 MORYSON Itin. I. 160 Your quip..that you were ashamed to write to mee for your rude stile. Very good, I finde the Irony. 1620 MIDDLETON & ROWLEY World Tost at Tennis 124 By his needle he understands ironia, That with one eye looks two ways at once. 1788 F. BURNEY Diary 13 Feb., He believed Irony the ablest weapon of oratory. 1828 WHATELY Rhet. in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) I. 265/1 Aristotle mentions..Eironeia, which in his time was commonly employed to signify, not according to the modern use of ‘Irony, saying the contrary to what is meant’, but, what later writers usually express by Litotes, i.e. ‘saying less than is meant’. 1837 MACAULAY Ess., Bacon (1887) 428 A drayman, in a passion, calls out, ‘You are a pretty fellow’, without suspecting that he is uttering irony. 1876 J. WEISS Wit, Hum, & Shaks. ii. 44 It is irony when Lowell, speaking of Dante's intimacy with the Scriptures, adds, ‘They do even a scholar no harm’.

[falafel]

The OED speaketh these 1s :

sarcasm, n.:




irony, n.

Just because the OED muddies the terms doesn't disprove Eurotrash's point.

Sarcasm is intentionally biting, caustic language. Verbal irony, which is what most people use, is much more playful.

[Babs]

the OED muddies the terms.

That's kinda funny. reminds me of an old Alanis Morrisette song. Don't you think?

[creekster]

That's kinda funny. reminds me of an old Alanis Morrisette song. Don't you think?

Yes, it's like ray-ee-ain on your wedding day!

I really DO think!

[falafel]

That's kinda funny. reminds me of an old Alanis Morrisette song. Don't you think?

Its like confusing terrrrrrrrrms, in your O-E-D!

[falafel]

Yes, it's like ray-ee-ain on your wedding day!

I really DO think!

Too obvious.

[creekster]

Just because the OED muddies the terms doesn't disprove Eurotrash's point.

Sarcasm is intentionally biting, caustic language. Verbal irony, which is what most people use, is much more playful.

I dont htink the OED confused the terms, to be honest, o fried ball of mediterranean green stuff. It looks like all sarcasm is irony but not all irony is sarcasm.

[creekster]

Too obvious.

It's a bone to make folks like you feel part of the game once in a while.

[falafel]

I dont htink the OED confused the terms, to be honest, o fried ball of mediterranean green stuff. It looks like all sarcasm is irony but not all irony is sarcasm.

Perhaps you are correct, oh furry one.

[Babs]

It's a bone to make folks like you feel part of the game once in a while.

a free ride?

[jay santos]

How does satire fit in? Personally, that's my favorite.

[Babs]

How does satire fit in? Personally, that's my favorite.

I like dramatic irony, myself, but then I could hardly expect you to know that.

[creekster]

a free ride?

whoa, now, that's already been paid!