Is it true that American's don't use sarcasm?

[Xanikk999]

Yep. Americans like sarcasm. The Brits are just better at it. It must be the miserable weather and tasteless food affecting their views.

I would love to live in a country that rains at least every week. I dont know how people dislike the rain, it has a cooling effect when the weather is hot (which it frequently is here when its not winter).

 

[dannyshenanigan]

Have you ever been exposed to American film or perhaps television, well at least the good ones?

One thing I have noticed is that here in the United States if you don't inflect your tone to that of the "sarcastic tone" yet say something that is sarcastic in content, people will have difficulty picking it up.

I wonder if I went to the U.K. and said sarcastic things without a modified tone, would they get it?

 

[Traitorfish]

Dont beileve everything you read on the internet or hear from random people OP.

Oh, this is nothing to with the internet- this myth is over a century old.

 

[GoodGame]

Umm...no we do use sarcasm.


There's a lack of sarcasm where there's a lack of intelligence/education, though.

 

[Earthling]

I don't know about you all but I'm eagerly awaiting more of that British animated TV series with a robot, cyclops and space-delivery boy. I heard the UK's longitudinal, billion-pound investment finally made improvements since the days of Gilliam's artwork.

 

[warpus]

What do you call subtle sarcasm that isn't meant to be harsh, insulting, or bitter?

Cause people of all creeds have trouble picking *that* up, it seems. When I was in Chile, in a museum, looking at shrunken heads, I made a random comment about how "The Germans used to do this too". An Australian said "really?"

This sort of thing happens all the time to me. The people who know me well usually know that I am kidding. Anyway.. I'm sure Americans are just as good as Brits are picking up sarcasm, but maybe they are used to a different kind of sarcasm in day-to-day conversations

 

[Earthling]

What do you call subtle sarcasm that isn't meant to be harsh, insulting, or bitter?

I think the Irish have most mastered that though, so it must be some Irish term. All those hammer-parties fundamentally altering brain structure to a new level of consciousness and all.

 

[Shaihulud]

Everyone uses sarcasm, but Americans less, I notice, they tend to use straight words and if they were sarcastic, they use an exaggerated tone of voice. A British person uses sarcasm in normal daily conversation delivered nonchalantly. I was with a group of American and 1 British guy, the Americans did not know what to make of his sarcasm, so I think they are not familiar with the mode of speaking.

 

[Moss]

America has never had a Jonathan Swift.

But the British Isles have never had a Mark Twain.

I'll leave it at that as I think those two (while not specifically) generally highlight some of the differences and similarities between the two breeds. I probably could have thought of better contrasts, but :kd

 

[Glassfan]

Rowan Atkinson is the Master of Sarcasm - especially in his classic Father of the Bride and Satan sketches - and of course Black Adder. John Cleese is another sarcastic genius (The Parrot Sketch, etc.).

I believe that Americans were more sarcastic in the past. I'm thinking of Groucho Marx and Samuel Clemens. Todays' American humor is ethnic, sexual and political. Sarcasm requires wit and intelligence - and we're obviously not what we once were.

Come to think of it, it seems most of our sarcasm is in the political editorials.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

The thing is, Americans are very sarcastic. It's just that the British are so much more so, that we don't seem to be, from their perspective. I mean, heck, how are we supposed to compete with Englishmen? You guys are drier than the Sahara.

It has something to do with it, but it is not the whole truth.
Americans are known for their relative lack of sarcasm among experienced Germans as well.

"The Germans used to do this too".

I wouldn't have gotten it either.

 

[Bugfatty300]

Exhibit G:

Here's an excerpt from a great example of American sarcastic literature.

Spoiler :

hello friends,

Last year I made the decision to trust my life on the street to Second Chance body armor. I got the level IIa because it stops the most rounds. plus I got the Trauma Plate for the front.

What scares me is that, although I can fit an extra trauma plate in the front, I cannot fit a second one in back. As of late I have taken to duct-taping a second trauma plate to the area of my back where the heart and vital organs are located. Then I put my vest on.

Here is the questions. The ducttape solution, although tactically sound, is hot and painful to remove. I would like to go to the single-plate solution in back. What I am worried about is repeated hits to that area with .308 ammunition. I have a high-risk security job and I fear that I would be the target for repeated long-distance shots to my back.

Are any of you aware of a thicker plate that could stop, say, .338 Lapua or something like that? Is there a better way to do the second plate?

BTW, I am, of course, usually carrying a pair of ceramic plates in my briefcase so that I can shield my head. My SO (we work as a team when necessary) has a similar accessory containing a breakdown NEF single-shot 300 WinMag with an 18" bbl. The plan is that I shield us with my body and “catch the rounds” while she assembles the NEF. I lay down covering fire with my 23 (Bar-Sto .357 Sig barrel) and she makes the long shots. I will then throw smoke grenades to obscure the area while continuing to lay covering fire. The problem, of course, is when I have to turn my back to run, and then the problem crops up.

Thanks!

http://lonelymachines.org/mall-ninjas/

You can see from the responses that it received that a lot of people didn't understand it.

 

[holy king]

I wouldn't have gotten it either.

yeah, it's not a big leap from ritually throwing live people into a moor to making shrinking heads.

actually, that's no leap at all.

 

[Ekolite]

Yes, there are lots of linguistic differences between English and English.

Are you really suggesting that there are no differences between British English and American English?

 

[Traitorfish]

Exhibit G:

Here's an excerpt from a great example of American sarcastic literature.

Spoiler :

hello friends,

Last year I made the decision to trust my life on the street to Second Chance body armor. I got the level IIa because it stops the most rounds. plus I got the Trauma Plate for the front.

What scares me is that, although I can fit an extra trauma plate in the front, I cannot fit a second one in back. As of late I have taken to duct-taping a second trauma plate to the area of my back where the heart and vital organs are located. Then I put my vest on.

Here is the questions. The ducttape solution, although tactically sound, is hot and painful to remove. I would like to go to the single-plate solution in back. What I am worried about is repeated hits to that area with .308 ammunition. I have a high-risk security job and I fear that I would be the target for repeated long-distance shots to my back.

Are any of you aware of a thicker plate that could stop, say, .338 Lapua or something like that? Is there a better way to do the second plate?

BTW, I am, of course, usually carrying a pair of ceramic plates in my briefcase so that I can shield my head. My SO (we work as a team when necessary) has a similar accessory containing a breakdown NEF single-shot 300 WinMag with an 18" bbl. The plan is that I shield us with my body and “catch the rounds” while she assembles the NEF. I lay down covering fire with my 23 (Bar-Sto .357 Sig barrel) and she makes the long shots. I will then throw smoke grenades to obscure the area while continuing to lay covering fire. The problem, of course, is when I have to turn my back to run, and then the problem crops up.

Thanks!

http://lonelymachines.org/mall-ninjas/

You can see from the responses that it received that a lot of people didn't understand it.

Well, it's arguably ironic, but it's not actually sarcastic.

yeah, it's not a big leap from ritually throwing live people into a moor to making shrinking heads.

actually, that's no leap at all.

The Celts, in fact, did both!

 

[Shekwan]

They don't use sarcasm. Also Asians don't feel pain, kinda like fish.

 

[Chukchi Husky]

I heard from someone that sarcasm is considered the lowest form of humour.

 

[ParkCungHee]

No, you see, as Americans we grew up without such sophisticated and subtle humor as Monty Python and Mr. Bean. This has left us culturally deprived, and caused our mental development to linger at about the level of a baboon, or Irishman.

 

[civplayah]

We use sarcasm, and it's funny, and in fact a lot of people a sarcastic nonstop. I'm just straightforward.

 

[Tekee]

Oh god yes he have heard of this "British Sarcasm"
It is so annoying, it makes British people look like anuses.
I speak from experience on XBOX Live. Its always the Brits rambling on "sarcastically" like:
"Oh your such a good sniper, you should be in the Olympics"
SHUT UP!

british humor is annoying... and judging from T.V. its only "intellectual" types like Lisa Simpson and other British-Accented people that use sarcasm.


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