Sarcasm A Very British Revolution
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It is said that sarcasm doesn't translate well over the Internet, text messaging, or generally through modern electronic typed communications. There have been calls for a 'sarcasm' emoticon on social media sites like facebook. There have been various attempts to push forward a number of such smileys, to denote sarcasm. Suggestions have been anything from adding "/sarcasm" at the of a message, to :S or ;S to denote a joking Sarcastic Smile. What none of these fail to realise is, that sarcasm (particularly over the Internet) is an in-joke. Something often only detectable by those who know you well, who know you for 'real'. A way of stamping our personality on a flippant, throw-away comment, that otherwise would be another mundane piece of text floating around the electronic ether. Well, I can say that's the case for many of us Brits anyway. And that's the thing, peoples inability to detect sarcasm isn't a new thing, it didn't rise-up as a by-product of the electronic age.
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The use of sarcasm, and it's understated bedfellow irony, can apparently be traced back to the Viking invasion of the British Isles well over a thousand years ago. In a Telegraph article of March 2014, the Danish Ambassador claimed that the British fondness for understated satire is very akin to the Danish sense of humour. The Viking invasion of the British Isles introduced a number of key words into the English language. Among them one of the current vogue words of sarcastic intent "awkward!" The Ambassador notes that there is a common heritage of humour between the two nations, that doesn't translate across to other nations and languages. "Sarcasm is very much inherent in British humour," he told the Telegraph. And went on to state how the Danes love Monty Python. If ever there was evidence of that commonality between our two great nations, surely the touch-stone must be a love of Monty Python. I'm sold!
So accepting then that raping and pillaging were actually ironic acts of understatement, and that the Vikings were being sarcastic, we can all holds hands across the North Sea and celebrate our two great nations in a sense nudge-nudge wink-wink say-no-more self-referential togetherness. British humour isn't unique, but it is very British, if you forgive me for that somewhat oxymoronic statement. There are key elements to British humour. It's often the aforementioned self-referential or self-deprecating, and delivered with a cutting deadpan style that belies it's hard-edged intention. We gift warp our satire, and flourish it with a satin bow. The emotional intent is hidden between the words, and no subject is off limits to the Brit. Our far-flung group of islands off the coast of mainland Europe, has developed a very dark and twisted sense of humour, that's often hard for people outside to fully grasp. Our humour goes from witty repartee (al la Oscar Wilde) to smutty sea-side postcard innuendo (al la the Carry On... series of films). All done with a wry smile, and a nod to those in the know.
Anyway, enough of the cultural analysis, and back to the use of and detection of sarcasm through electronic communication. It's not so easy, as our words are often read by a variety of people that don't know us. They have no concept of how we usually talk, or write, and so have no basis for judging the context of a random post of ours they come across. Apparently in 2010 Israeli scientists developed an algorithm that can detect sarcasm. And possibly integrated it into their Iron Dome technology. They trained the algorithm, by reading through reviews on Amazon. A treasure trove of wonderfully sarcastic pieces of writing. From frustrated customers, venting their quiet anger about disappointing products they have purchased through the Internet retail giant. Surprisingly it would seem that the US Secret Service aren't as much incestuous bedfellows with the Israelis as we'd all like to believe. As only this year it was revealed that they want software that can detect sarcasm in social media. I guess such software would be useful, and avoid the US government looking like utter humourless buffoons. An example of where such software would have been handy, is the case of the two British tourists arrested and deported from the USA for making irreverent Twitter jokes about their planned trip to the States.
Back in 2012 the two excited friends went to Twitter, to express how thrilled they were about going to America. They tweeted that they were going "to go and destroy America" and "dig up Marilyn Monroe!" It would appear that The Department of Homeland Security were watching, and flagged the posts. One landing at LAX, the pair were detained and questioned. Held overnight, they were then put on a plane and sent back home. Interestingly the Marilyn reference was a quote from the American TV show Family Guy. The irony in that is just too precious to behold.
So acts of sarcasm has now become a terrorist threat. IED no longer means Impoverished Explosive Device, but Ironic Expressive Device, used to destroy pockets of humourless resistance whenever they blundered blindly into the semantic trap. There is a long a proud history of sarcasms more refined sibling satire, being used to undermine and question authority. There is an art to satire, but any Tom, Dick or Harriet (don't want to be sexist here) can pour their scorn through a quickly whipped-up barbed piece of throw-away sarcasm. Viva la revolucion... Say it loudly and proudly FUCK YOU!!!! As the great man George Carlin, the great purveyor of words of wanton wit and wisdom once said.
So accepting then that raping and pillaging were actually ironic acts of understatement, and that the Vikings were being sarcastic, we can all holds hands across the North Sea and celebrate our two great nations in a sense nudge-nudge wink-wink say-no-more self-referential togetherness. British humour isn't unique, but it is very British, if you forgive me for that somewhat oxymoronic statement. There are key elements to British humour. It's often the aforementioned self-referential or self-deprecating, and delivered with a cutting deadpan style that belies it's hard-edged intention. We gift warp our satire, and flourish it with a satin bow. The emotional intent is hidden between the words, and no subject is off limits to the Brit. Our far-flung group of islands off the coast of mainland Europe, has developed a very dark and twisted sense of humour, that's often hard for people outside to fully grasp. Our humour goes from witty repartee (al la Oscar Wilde) to smutty sea-side postcard innuendo (al la the Carry On... series of films). All done with a wry smile, and a nod to those in the know.
Anyway, enough of the cultural analysis, and back to the use of and detection of sarcasm through electronic communication. It's not so easy, as our words are often read by a variety of people that don't know us. They have no concept of how we usually talk, or write, and so have no basis for judging the context of a random post of ours they come across. Apparently in 2010 Israeli scientists developed an algorithm that can detect sarcasm. And possibly integrated it into their Iron Dome technology. They trained the algorithm, by reading through reviews on Amazon. A treasure trove of wonderfully sarcastic pieces of writing. From frustrated customers, venting their quiet anger about disappointing products they have purchased through the Internet retail giant. Surprisingly it would seem that the US Secret Service aren't as much incestuous bedfellows with the Israelis as we'd all like to believe. As only this year it was revealed that they want software that can detect sarcasm in social media. I guess such software would be useful, and avoid the US government looking like utter humourless buffoons. An example of where such software would have been handy, is the case of the two British tourists arrested and deported from the USA for making irreverent Twitter jokes about their planned trip to the States.
Back in 2012 the two excited friends went to Twitter, to express how thrilled they were about going to America. They tweeted that they were going "to go and destroy America" and "dig up Marilyn Monroe!" It would appear that The Department of Homeland Security were watching, and flagged the posts. One landing at LAX, the pair were detained and questioned. Held overnight, they were then put on a plane and sent back home. Interestingly the Marilyn reference was a quote from the American TV show Family Guy. The irony in that is just too precious to behold.
So acts of sarcasm has now become a terrorist threat. IED no longer means Impoverished Explosive Device, but Ironic Expressive Device, used to destroy pockets of humourless resistance whenever they blundered blindly into the semantic trap. There is a long a proud history of sarcasms more refined sibling satire, being used to undermine and question authority. There is an art to satire, but any Tom, Dick or Harriet (don't want to be sexist here) can pour their scorn through a quickly whipped-up barbed piece of throw-away sarcasm. Viva la revolucion... Say it loudly and proudly FUCK YOU!!!! As the great man George Carlin, the great purveyor of words of wanton wit and wisdom once said.