Sarcasm mark

File:Sarcasm Mark.gif

Proposed sarcasm mark.

A sarcasm mark, also called a sarcasm point, helps the reader identify certain messages as being derogatory or ironic. Although a sarcasm mark exists in the Ethiopic languages it is not a standard form of punctuation in English. If accepted, it would serve a similar purpose to the French Irony Mark in helping the reader to identify and interpret specific types of non-literal language.

Several solutions have been suggested and implemented, most often in the highly informal context of electronic communication (e.g., email, chat rooms and blogs). Traditionally, sarcasm has been communicated implicitly through vocal intonation in oral language and through context in written communication. In the relatively unregulated context of electronic communication, sarcasm has become one of the most prevalent methods of expressing dissatisfaction, and one of the most prevalent forms of humor. Because of the ambiguous nature of sarcastic language, and the concomitant misunderstandings engendered by its use, various people have suggested or enacted solutions to the problem of ensuring that ambiguous language is understood in the way intended.

Examples

Among the solutions adopted by various internet subcultures are:

• Collegehumor.com forums use plus signs as sarcasm marks. +That was awesome!+
• The Snark, a ligature of the full stop and tilde (~) was proposed to other type designers and typographers at http://www.typophile.com, for signifying all sorts of irony, including verbal irony, such as sarcasm.
  Oh really.~
• The inverted exclamation point (¡), probably adapted from the Ethiopic punctuation mark, by Josh Greenman at slate.com:
  Oh really?¡
• Many phpBB/vBulletin-based forum users use faux-BBCode tags: [sarcasm]sarcastic words[/sarcasm]. For a short time, working sarcasm tags were implemented on the Something Awful Forums. The text of a sarcasm element would be displayed boldfaced and dark red:
  Oh really?
• The wink, ;), and smile, :), emoticons have also been used informally, as
  Oh really? ;)
• In most closed captioning, sarcasm is shown with an exclamation mark or question mark in parentheses, at the end of the sentence:
  Oh really(?)
• Among some internet chatrooms, online messaging networks and forums (most notably Slashdot), XML-like sarcasm tags have been adopted, as in
  <sarcasm>Oh really?</sarcasm>
  A common variation is for only the closing tag, or an abbreviation of it ("/sarc") to be used.
• In Sweden local hacker slang developed the "irony paranthesis" as (. You don't say! .)
• On IRC channels where the full stop at the end of a message is often dropped for speed, some use that to mark sarcasm. ("oh really.")
• The "dots of sarcasm" is used on IM and IRC as a way to express sarcasm. ("oh really...")

See also

• Irony mark

References

• Liloia: “The Sarcasm Mark,” August 08, 2001.
• DPB: Origin of % mark January 31, 2003.
• Greenman: “A Giant Step Forward for Punctuation¡” December 01, 2004.
• Furious: “Punctuational Proposal,” April 29, 2006.