Life and times of SchizoSherlock

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Rant

Stand-up comics often bemoan the fact that "everyone's a comedian!", and its true: every one appreciates humour (to some degree) and most are capable of generating some form of spontaneous humour. But this very ubiquity makes humour harder to understand formally, since humour assumes many guises and operates with subtle differences in myriad contexts.
Therefore I feel sarcasm is the highest form of wit, contrary to what Oscar Wilde believed. It is also the primary weapon in the arsenal of the anti-social. Not only is it good for amusing oneself, it is a surefire way to get the ever present detritus off your back. Telling someone that they suck is not sarcasm, it’s honesty. Replying to every negative comment with a joke, while amusing and infuriating for your target, is not sarcasm. Sarcasm is defined as "A keen, reproachful expression; a satirical remark uttered with some degree of scorn or contempt; a taunt; a gibe; a cutting jest." If, for example, someone tries to make conversation by uttering these lines “Hi. Nice day today, isn’t it?” The correct sarcastic reply to this would be “Oh yes, it was a lovely day, and I had just begun to enjoy it before my tolerance of inane comments was tested. But thanks for wasting my time anyway; I'm going to look this way now.” This answer would probably make the other person feel belittled. That’s what good sarcasm does, because after all, everyone else is below your disdain. How can you begin to master the sarcastic wit now that you can recognize it? Well, sometimes watching the masters perform their art is the best way to learn. On that note, read as much Ambrose Bierce as you can. Another good source is the character played by Matthew Perry. Mr. Perry has brought sarcasm to the great unwashed, and you can benefit from watching his performance. Of course you have to set your sarcastic sights on potential targets. This does not require much more than the standard trip to your college or for that matter a convenience store. Sarcasm is the one skill you can never truly master. There is always another rung in the ladder to true sarcasm. But maybe now you'll make people cringe in horror every time you open your mouth to respond to their inane questions.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Another lovely thought, but i would like to see that you structure your blog into paragraphs. Currently it looks as if you wrote it in a single breath, but nonetheless nice one..

October 22, 2009 at 9:42 PM  
Blogger Tomodachi said...

good one... sarcasm is the witty comedy!! dark humor.. donno why but it reminded me of the comedian from watchmen.. not tht he was sarcastic..

anywayz.. keep them coming...

October 23, 2009 at 12:25 AM  

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