Sarcasm? or Satire?
"Don't move the bricks? Uh-oh...Still, the new patio and rock garden look really cool ... relayer
Your sarcastic remark was totally lame and shows that maybe you aren't as concerned as I am ... jokerman
Courtesy of
http://www.takeourword.com/Issue062.html :
"Sarcasm: from Greek sarkasmos, the noun form of sarkasein, "to tear flesh", "to gnash teeth". The Greeks took it as a figurative word to refer to "bitter speech", as such speech could be as painful as having one’s flesh torn, or it could cause the recipient to gnash his teeth ... This form of biting wit (ouch!) has a surprising relative in sarcophagus, an old word for a stone tomb. Sarcophagus is the Latin form of the Greek sarkophagos which means 'flesh eater'."
Courtesy of Ambrose Bierce, _The Devil's Dictionary_, text available online at
http://www.alcyone.com/max/lit/devils/s.html :
"SATIRE, n. An obsolete kind of literary composition in which the vices and follies of the author's enemies were expounded with imperfect tenderness. In this country satire never had more than a sickly and uncertain existence, for the soul of it is wit, wherein we are dolefully deficient ..."
In my opinion, the latter definition more precisely characterizes relayer's statement than the former definition. Indeed, Mr. Bierce's characterization of our nation's curious Irony Deficiency may even remain somewhat valid today, at least in isolated instances.
Don'cha think?
Like rain on your wedding day, or any of the non-ironic occurrences cited in that particular song?
Hinchman's Hill