Yesterday I saw a church sign that said, "SARCASM IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE DEVIL." This was news to me. How alarming. I always assumed I'd burn in Hell for heresy and chronic misuse of the Lord's name. Now I find out I am damned just for my love of irony.
To save yourselves from the agony of eternal fire, click here for a brief (very brief!) visit to the Sarcasm Society, so that you may better know the path to avoid. Repent!
Last Judgment (detail), Giotto, 1306.
UPDATE: Some visitors are saying that they can't get the Giotto to display. If you're having trouble, click here to see it at the Web Gallery of Art. It needs seeing ;-)
11 comments:
Gracie, I think that sign you saw calls for a bit of Oscar Wilde: "Seriousness is the only refuge of the shallow."
Ha! When I see that on a church sign, I might actually think about going in.
I am so disappointed that the art is not showing up on my screen! Maybe it is a temporary glitch...I'll check back later.
Also: when my parents moved from the East Coast to the West, one of the most difficult things for them to get used to was the lack of sarcasm. They were forever alarming, offending and puzzling people who did their sweet best to understand. The other thing was driving: my mother got eight tickets tickets in two months and had to re-educated...
Nice to have you back, by the way!
I hope you can get the Giotto to display, Alyssa. It's a great image, but even though the file is just a plain jpg, Fecebook didn't want to display it either. It shows up fine in Firefox, FWIW.
I think the little cultural quirks in language are fascinating. My own sarcasm has always gotten me in trouble, since I was a kid growing up in rural Tennessee. I had a discussion not long ago about all the Southern smiling and sweet talk. Northerners think it's "fake" and I tried to explain that it's just a form of courtesy. Befuddlement all around!
Sarcasm: literally "to tear the flesh". Well, yeah: Little devils do that to you with pinched forks when you get under and boil in those vats of lava. If you believe such rubbish that is...
I am also sad I don't see the Giotto. The divine must be furious on my above comment. Repent or else!
Hugs!!
PS> I got the most fitting verifying name: exode (which means exodus)
Children tend not to understand sarcasm or irony and can be hurt by it. It is strictly an adult activity. Twain was certainly good at it.
Ah, so glad you mentioned Twain, Bozo. I've been meaning to do a Twain post, and you've reminded me. Maybe next week.
I dunno what's up with the picture. I reloaded it. Maybe it'll display now, or maybe Blogger just has a cold or something. It's still showing up just fine for me. I'll see what else I can do...
Seeing the picture just fine now!
Of course, now I'll have nightmares...
I know what you mean, Alyssa--the longer I look at it, the scarier it gets.
I don't know if I'm splitting hairs here, but I think of irony and sarcasm as two different things. Sarcasm, which I've never liked, is a form of discourse which seems determined to make other people feel stupid and ashamed. Irony, which I like very much, assumes a kind of shared cleverness: I make a smartly pointed observation and trust you to understand and appreciate it.
So...sarcasm is the language of the devil? Seriously, I see your point, but to split hairs myself, I'd say sarcasm is the child of irony. It's a way of using irony aggressively in social discourse--sometimes in a hostile way, of course, but I think sarcasm is often used in a way that is lighthearted and harmless.
Irony in the broader sense can be used as a verbal weapon, too, but only between people who share a strong sense of irony.
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