The Nilsen's on Sarcasm. Not that you'd notice.

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Sarcasm
by Don L. F. Nilsen
and Alleen Pace Nilsen

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The Onion
The Onion has a sarcastic slogan. It is:
“America’s Finest News Source.”
The Onion Web Site:
http://www.theonion.com

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Three Types of Irony or Sarcasm:
• More than 2,000 years ago, the Roman
rhetorician Quintilian concluded that there
three types of irony or sarcasm.
• These occur whenever the literal meaning of
a statement does not fit with:
– The delivery of the statement
– The character of the speaker
– Or the topic of the statement

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Ironic Insults:
• Ironic insults, where the positive literal
meaning is subverted by the negative
intended meaning, will be perceived to
be more positive than direct insults,
where the literal meaning is negative.

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Occupation, Gender and Social Class
as Indicators of Sarcasm
Occupation, gender, and social class allow a person to
predict how often a speaker will use sarcasm, and
how often an audience will detect its usage.
For example, if the speaker is a priest the listener
would not generally assume that sarcasm is being
used.
But if the speaker is a comedian, the listener would
general assume that sarcasm is being used.

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Gendered Sarcasm
Stacey Ivanko, Penny Pexman, and Kara
Olineck say that men tend to use sarcasm
more frequently than women do.
Also, men tend to use sarcasm in a self-
protective manner to cover their insecurities.
But women tend to use self-deprecating
sarcasm to show their own vulnerability, and
to promote in-group intimacy.

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Sarcasm Web Sites
STEPHEN COLBERT (THE COLBERT REPORT):
http://www.colbertnation.com/home
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM:
http://www.hbo.com/curb-your-enthusiasm/index.html
THE F-WORD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7-YptNv3KE
IGOODESMAN AND JOO:
http://cartoonando.blogspot.com/2008/04/1000-posts.html
JIMMY KIMMELL:
http://abc.go.com/latenight/jimmykimmel/index?pn=index

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DAVID LETTERMAN:
http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/
THE ONION (CAROL KOLB):
http://www.theonion.com
PACHELBELL RANT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM
SARCMARK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlwCCWGYOGg
SOUTHPARK:
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155394/?tab=featured