Man : Words (Sarcasm)

Sarcasm

Sarcasm is "a sharp, bitter, or hurtful expression or remark; a bitter mocking remark or taunt, usually spoken through irony  or understatement

A sarcastic attitude is quite widespread among ignorant humans. 
    a. Ignorant of their statement, 
    b. some may ridicule others' shortcomings, mistakes, 
    c. physical abnormalities, clothing, lack of material possessions, carelessness, 
    d. behavior, the way people talk, and in short, almost everything. 

 To make fun of someone, they use certain words and gestures or mimic certain facial expressions. 
  For the person, it is unimportant of the other person's feelings, be it sad, annoyed, upset or anxious. 
  The important thing is to feed their own pride and to humiliate the object of their ridicule.

Sarcasm, ridicule or mockery is used harshly, often crudely and contemptuously, for destructive purposes. It may be used in an indirect manner in the form of irony,

     Examples of hostile, critical comments may be expressed in an ironic way, mimicry, “don't work too hard" to a lazy worker. The use of irony introduces an element of humor to make the criticism seem more polite and less aggressive. Sarcasm can frequently be unnoticed in print form, oftentimes requiring the intonation or tone of voice to indicate the quip.

Psychology

Sarcasm is indeed a profound and distressing behavior. Synonyms for sarcasm: mockery, derision, cynicism, disdain, scorn. None of these words imply anything positive. And yet, people who are allegedly close use sarcasm commonly in their communication.

Sarcasm is psychologically rooted in anger, distrust and cowardice. People using are angry or frustrated, don’t trust the other person (or themselves) to pull off speaking speak directly, and are often afraid to take the risk to express their true feelings.

Occasionally there's a more benign explanation: it's a nasty habit, like smoking. And changing one’s habitual way of speaking is difficult. So people can be addicted to a hurtful way of speaking because there's an instant subliminal payoff: When I make you feel bad, I feel better. Sure, it's a dysfunctional and cowardly way to communicate, yet again, it's all too common.

Mechanics of Sarcasm

Sarcasm is simply when someone says something that everyone knows is untrue in order to draw attention to its ridiculousness. When used aggressively, it will be blown out of context and exaggerating it to the point where it appears a stupid or inane.

Initially, it provide humor by pointing out how absurd the situation or comment would be but at the same time it is often essentially a mockery of your original comment which is why it can be so hurtful and destructive.The same effect can be achieved through ironic comments – again often critical or damaging.

For instance a comment such as 'remember to eat – don't starve yourself!' delivered to someone overweight would also be a form of sarcasm. It is hard to distinguish between a sarcastic and an earnest comment and is better to lay low on the use of sarcasm. Usually the main indicator of sarcasm is a vocal inflection and this means it tends not to work in the written form.

Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, as it isn't really much art of humor.  It can also be hurtful and scathing and in many cases sarcasm can be difficult to bear. Though it is often meant humorously and often intended as a joke, and is genuinely funny, sarcasm often relies on putting another person down and as a result will often make those people look or feel small as a result. Why Are Some People So Critical?         A normal Human being should have a balanced behavior, criticizing someone else or to be sarcastic at times, but when the critical comments starts to flood everyone around him and when his sarcastic behavior becomes directed to the purpose of hurting those people then this person is in real need for help.  The reason: *    Criticism And Anger: A negative thought while being angry is the most critical act of defiance to everyone and to everything. When angry, we tend to become overly critical and sarcastic, anger that is carried inwards, a haunted anger.  People with unmet goals, emotionally abused and with violated rights may end up being angry at everything. They live a miserable life and curse everyone they find in their way as if others carry part of the blame for what happened to them. Those are the overly critical and the overly sarcastic people you meet in your life. *   Being overly critical and Your Inner Child: Some people are overly critical because this is just how they were treated as children. Whether it was by their parents or colleagues, the child becomes wounded in his subconscious mind.    Resulting in an unconsciously overly critical and unbearable to everyone around him. The negative messages that have been implanted during childhood constantly will haunt to become an overly critical and sarcastic adult. Not everyone who receives criticism as a child turns to be overly critical. *    Criticism and Lack of self confidence: The difference between a confident and a negatively charged person lies in the way of thinking, while the first tends to compliment his actions the second keeps putting himself down. The mind of the person lacking self confidence  is usually full of negative messages and that’s why the excess negative messages travels to the other people around him in the form of criticism. Putting sarcasm aside.      1. Sarcasm is ambiguous. Sarcasm depends heavily on tone of voice, body language and other nonverbal cues to be properly understood.  The true meaning of a sarcastic message is easily lost over the phone–and you can forget about sarcastic comments being properly understood in written communication.  Sarcasm often goes unnoticed without the change in inflection or raised eyebrow to signal its presence.  And if you miss oughtthose cues, sarcastic remarks don’t make any sense.       2.  Sarcasm as defense mechanism.     It’s not a very good one, because of the inherent negative nature of sarcasm.  If you need a positive defense mechanism, make it laughter.  (Just make sure it’s friendly laughter.)       3.   Sarcasm is cynical. Do you want to be known as a person who is “scornfully and habitually negative”?  That’s the dictionary definition of a cynics . Sarcasm is both a product and reinforcer of negative thinking.  Find some happier thoughts.    Don’t wallow in negativity.       5. Sarcasms a mean. The element of humor takes the edge off a bit, but sarcasm is often used to veil truly hurtful criticism.  Don’t be a bully; drop the sarcasm.      6. Sarcasm is for cowards. The touch of humor in sarcastic comments can hide criticisms far too aggressive to be spoken plainly.  If you can’t bring yourself to directly say what you really mean, you shouldn’t say it at all.       7. Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. …according to Oscar Wilde. Its not funny; it doesn't make you seem witty.   Take Emily Post’s advice instead:  “As a possession for either man or woman, a ready smile is more valuable in life than a ready wit (sarcasm).”      8. Sarcasm as a means of judging others. Do you really need to belittle others to make yourself look better?  Don’t be the jerk with the superiority complex.  Use kind words instead.      9. Sarcasm wastes words that could be put to better use. Kind words are the best thing we can give another person.  Sarcasm trades kindness for cruelty.  It serves no higher purpose; it builds no one up.  Silence is far preferable to sarcasm, but kind words are better still. How to Deal With Sarcasm       If sarcasm is being use unscathingly, damaging your self esteem or reputation, or taking the enjoyment out of social occasions – then you need to address the issue and get them to stop.         If someone thinks they can keep trying to belittle you by using sarcasm then you need to show them that they are wrong and look after your reputation without letting them walk on it.        There are a few ways that you can deal with sarcasm and different strategies will work better in different circumstances and with different people. Here we will look at some potential options. i. Don't Acknowledge It: One option is to refuse to acknowledge the sarcastic comments and instead treat them as genuine. This way you can quickly move the subject on, show the person that you are unhappy with their comments, and at the same time often turn it around so that they end up being the ones who look stupid. So an exchange might go like this: 'How did you get here?' 'I flew... how do you think I got here?' 'You flew? You have wings, what a way.’ Another way to ignore the sarcasm is to ignore the comment completely – so just turn away and start talking to someone else as soon as you get a hint of the sarcastic tone. This communicates to them that you are bored with/tired of their comments and you are unimpressed and means they aren't getting the attention they want.  ii. Retaliate: Perhaps the opposite strategy is to bite back with sarcasm of your own – this way upping the ante and making people forget their sarcastic comment and instead focus on yours. So for instance to use the previous example. 'Don't go hungry – remember to eat!' 'Yeah thanks, don't choke and die' If you can make yours funnier than theirs then you will come out of the exchange on top and furthermore if you can make your sarcasm biting enough then you may make the person think twice before using sarcasm against you in future as they choose to instead move to easier targets.  iii. Be Inane: By using an inane come back in reaction to a sarcastic, comment you leave no avenue for retaliation while at the same time getting a laugh and demonstrating that you don't care about their comment. For instance then: 'How did you get here?' 'I flew, how do you think I got here?' 'Mi mi mi mi mi, I'm Joe!' iv. Scorn: You can also shoot down sarcastic comments by scolding the person using them and if you do this correctly then you can make them feel small as a result while at the same time pointing out how childish they are. The previous examples are perfect for if you if you are happy to stoop to their level, but if you'd rather keep some decorum and integrity then this is the better strategy. For instance then: 'How did you get here?' 'I flew' 'Don't be stupid Joe' Or alternatively: 'If you're going to be stupid/sarcastic then I shall not talk to you in future' v. Point Out Their Motives: If someone has used sarcasm in order to make you look bad and themselves look better by extension then this is an unattractive quality and you can turn it around by pointing out their motives. So for instance just say 'stop trying to show off in front of your friends' or 'sarcasm doesn't make you sound clever Joe'.  vi Correct: Similarly you can put down sarcasm by correcting their comment and pointing out how stupid it was and by explaining your original point. So if they told you they flew then you would just say 'I know you didn't fly Joe, I was asking because you might have come by train' and this way you have very quickly made their comment look churlish and petty.  vii. Tell Them: If they are making you unhappy with their sarcasm but it's unintentional, or if you have tried other strategies to get them to stop and it hasn't worked, then you can try just telling them that you're not happy with their attitude. If they are a good friend and you draw attention to something that is upsetting you then they should just stop. At the same time even if it doesn't go that way then it should at least give them a heads up so that they know why you are acting differently toward them. viii. Cut Ties: Ultimately if this person is using sarcasm to try and make you feel bad about yourself or to get ahead of you then they aren't a good friend, or they have low confidence that is affecting your relationship negatively and you will be better off either cutting ties completely or just giving them some time to work through whatever it is that's upsetting them.

Every human being has been bestowed 

with wealth, beauty, intelligence, talents and other qualities. 

Take delight in this fine qualities they see others in and, 

because they seek approval and 

not to satisfy for those of ignorant, 

their egos, arrogance and jealousy play a powerful role in their life. 

The word of tolerant, positive and modest 

are not in their mindset.

Excerpt taken with thanks from writings :

Stanley C Loewen/ Pschology
Wikipedia

M.farouk Radwan

Carl Alasko, Ph.D.