Sarcasm and Irony--Good Humor or Bad Humor


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justme27 is offline justme27 Post #1  September 6,2009, 11:04am
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There I put up a darn avatar is everyone happy! T.S. Eliot very pretentious

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Just a little bit about myself I'm in a PhD program, well-read, and I've lived in Europe for a significant amount of time. This will be relevant later on, but back to the topic.

My naturally tendency for joking around is to either be sarcastic or ironic. Although I'm an intelligent guy, I love to joke around and act like a fool--through irony. Now about half the time my sarcasm and irony is understood and met with laughter; they get the joke. However, the other half of the time people look at me like I'm an idiot; they take what I'm saying as seriously. Then I have to explain the joke and why it should not be taken seriously...yada,yada,yada.

Here is an example of a kind of joke I would make that incorporates sarcasm and irony: We see two people from Germany, I turn to a group of classmates, "Uh oh those Germans: I've seen inglorious bastards, I know what they're all about." The Sarcasm and the Irony is that I've actually lived in Germany and have many German friends so I'm just playing the part of the ignorant American who basis their world view purely on fictionalized media.

My questions: Sarcasm and irony is it good humor or bad humor? What does it say about people who don't "get it?"
 
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Jacquiem is offline Jacquiem Post #2  September 6,2009, 3:26pm
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is glad she can still surprise herself

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In that particular example, if the people you joked to didn't know you lived in Gemany and had many German friends, how would they know you were being ironic? Even if they did, someone may not have taken your joke to be funny, but may have seen it as completely inappropriate.

Whatever kind of joke you tell, especially if you're not sure about the sensitivities of the people you're telling it to, I think you have to be careful not to offend people. This usually means staying away from negative or meanspirited generalizations about race, religion, sex, and nationality/culture. I have a group of friends who I can pretty much say anything to and they can to me, but I parse my words when their friends are around, or their significant others, because I don't know them as well. It's just the best thing to do to avoid finding myself in the unpleasant situation of having to apologize for an ill-though off-color joke.

That someone doesn't "get it" only means that they weren't amused by your words. Doesn't say anything else about them other than that.
 
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