Sarcasm explanation. What does sarcasm mean in simple words?

Sarcasm

Sarcasm

SARCASM (from the Greek sarkadzo - to tear, torment) is one of the types of satirical exposure. Like satire, S. involves the fight against hostile phenomena of reality through ridicule of it. Ruthlessness, harshness of exposure - distinctive feature sarcasm. Unlike irony, sarcasm expresses the highest degree of indignation, hatred. S. is never a characteristic technique of a humorist, who, revealing what is funny in reality, always portrays it with a certain degree of sympathy and sympathy.
The comic element in sarcastic denunciation can be quite insignificant. In S., indignation is expressed quite openly. With this S. speaks, for example. Lermontov about his generation: “we are rich, barely out of the cradle, by the mistakes of our fathers and their late minds...”, and concludes his “Duma” with a caustic comparison of the attitude of future generations towards him with “the bitter mockery of a deceived son over a squandered father.”
One of the requirements for sarcastic effectiveness is aphorism. S. uses the aphoristic form, for example. Lenin for the end of the article about Heyden: “What is a philistine? An empty gut, full of cowardice and hope that God will have mercy. What is the Russian liberal-democratic philistine of the cadet and near-cadet camps? An empty gut, full of cowardice and hope that the counter-revolutionary landowner will take pity!” (Works, vol. XII, p. 11).
Thanks to its direct impact, S. is a form of exposure, equally inherent in journalism, polemics, oratory speech, as well as fiction. That is why S. is especially widely used in conditions of acute political and class struggle. Developed political life Greece and Rome gave rise to high examples of S. in Demosthenes, Cicero and Juvenal. Deep S. was imbued with the work of the great fighters of the young bourgeoisie against feudalism. Rabelais, a humanist who fought against the constraint of consciousness by theology and scholastic science, S. directs arrows against scholastic scientists, deriving mocking words from the word “Sorbonne” - sorbonites, sorbonides, etc. Voltaire widely used S.'s technique to expose the church and its ministers in his pamphlets and especially in The Virgin of Orleans. In Voltaire’s pamphlets addressed to the church, S. rose to the pathos of indignation in the oft-repeated ending: “Ecrasez l’infame.” Swift's sarcasms are extremely varied in his exposure of various sides public life contemporary England.
Russian revolutionary-democratic writers (Chernyshevsky, Saltykov-Shchedrin, and others) were imbued with the deepest indignation in their struggle against autocracy, serfdom, and liberals. Thus, in Saltykov we find in a huge number such complete S. expressions as “administrative delight”, “pupil of the censorship department” (about himself), etc.
Lenin used sarcasm with exceptional causticity in his polemics with liberals, with the Mensheviks, with Trotsky. Thus, in his article “On the Violation of Unity” (vol. XVII, p. 393), Lenin writes about Trotsky: “Trotsky avoids facts and specific instructions because they mercilessly refute all his angry cries and pompous phrases. Of course, to strike a pose and say: a crude sectarian caricature is very clever. It is also not difficult to add even louder, more rich words about emancipation from conservative factionalism. But isn't it really very cheap? Wasn’t this weapon taken from the arsenal of that era when Trotsky shone in front of high school students?”
In Soviet literature, class-conscious and acute, S. in relation to the enemy must find and does find favorable conditions for its development. We meet S. at Mayakovsky, M. Koltsov and others.

Literary encyclopedia. - At 11 t.; M.: Publishing House of the Communist Academy, Soviet encyclopedia, Fiction. Edited by V. M. Fritsche, A. V. Lunacharsky. 1929-1939 .

Sarcasm

(from the Greek sarka?zo$, lit. - tearing meat), very sharp and caustic ridicule, the highest degree irony. The technique of sarcasm was often used by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin; for example, in “The History of a City” - satire at the authorities in Russia and at the same time a mockery of its inhabitants; the same in the fairy tale “The Bear in the Voivodeship”, etc. Sarcasm, like any humorous technique, is based on allegory, but, unlike other types comic, often does not disguise the background, but openly expresses a negative assessment in the text, following the visible praise. N.A. Nekrasova, for example, in “Reflections at the Front Entrance”: “You will fall asleep, surrounded by the care / Dear and beloved family / (Waiting impatiently for your death).” Sarcasm is often used grotesque; for example, in the poem “The Sitting Ones” by V.V. Mayakovsky, where the characters, due to the enormous number of meetings they have to attend, are present at one with the upper half of their body, at the other - with the lower half. Sarcasm is widely used as an oratorical technique, because it is imbued with indignation and indignation, in contrast to the more “calm” irony.

Literature and language. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Edited by prof. Gorkina A.P. 2006 .

See what “Sarcasm” is in other dictionaries:

- (Greek). A caustic, caustic mockery, a caustic, offensive joke. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. SARCASM [gr. sarkasmos Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Cm … Synonym dictionary

sarcasm- a, m. sarcasme gr. sarkasmos sarkazo lit. I tear the meat. 1. Evil, caustic mockery, caustic irony. BAS 1. Sarcasm actually means what the body eats. Jan. Her grief sometimes took on a tinge of irony and sarcasm. 1851. Trampling... ... Historical Dictionary Gallicisms of the Russian language

- (Greek sarkasmos) – caustic mockery. Sarcasm contains a merciless, destructive assessment of a person or phenomenon, in contrast to irony, where a negative assessment is implied. Large explanatory dictionary of cultural studies.. Kononenko B.I.. 2003 ... Encyclopedia of Cultural Studies

- (Greek sarkasmos, from sarkazo, literally tearing meat), caustic mockery, the highest degree of irony, based not only on the enhanced contrast of the implied and the expressed, but also on the immediate deliberate exposure of the implied: Regretted... ... Modern encyclopedia

- (Greek sarkasmos from sarkazo, lit. tearing meat), caustic mockery, the highest degree of irony, based not only on the enhanced contrast of the implied and the expressed, but also on the immediate deliberate exposure of the implied: The wolf took pity on the mare... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

SARCASM, sarcasm, husband. (from the Greek sarkasmos torment) (book). 1. units only Caustic mockery, caustic irony. His speech was full of sarcasm. 2. A caustically mocking remark. Sprinkle sarcasms. Dictionary Ushakova. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

SARCASM, ah, husband. (book). 1. Sargent mockery, evil irony. Sounds like s in the voice. 2. A caustic, mocking remark. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Husband. sarcastic mockery, sharp, caustic. Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary. IN AND. Dahl. 1863 1866 … Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

- (from the Greek sarx - flesh) piercing into the body; caustic mockery, bitter irony. Philosophical encyclopedic Dictionary. 2010 … Philosophical Encyclopedia

The verbal weapon that a person uses to ridicule people, objects or phenomena is called sarcasm. If you select more precise definition, That sarcasm is a caustic mockery, evil irony of the highest degree of a negative nature, with the help of which one can veiledly express the bitter truth.

Why do people use sarcasm?

The concept of sarcasm first appeared in Greek and literally meaning of the word translated as “tear flesh, meat.” IN English literature The term was officially introduced by Edmund Spencer, and, after some time, took root in the Russian language. The ability to express yourself sarcastically is a sign of a healthy, sharp mind. Sarcastic techniques can be used for different purposes:

• To knock your opponent into highest degree humiliation, veiled and maliciously mocking his abilities or behavior.
• To demonstrate some of the opponent's vices or shortcomings to third parties, while simultaneously showing one's intelligence and ability to use sarcasm.
• To make fun of phenomena, events in political and social life.

Sarcasm in literature it is, most often, a poisonous mockery of the regime, power, and political situation. The technique was actively used by ancient philosophers to ridicule the existing totalitarian system, the stupidity of those in power, officials and the bureaucratic system.

Examples of using sarcasm.

Some examples of sarcasm:

• You look great, have you lost weight? (Phrase to a girl who has noticeably gained weight).
• Are you planning to get a job as a top manager in large company? Good luck! (Insufficient competence of the applicant is implied).
• Did he kill four? But he's connected! Don’t be afraid, I won’t offend him (This implies an inadequate assessment of the situation, excessive precaution).
• I love people who write with mistakes. (The opposite is implied - “I hate” “I can’t stand”).
• Will your team take first place in the championship? If only from the end. (This implies the weakness of the interlocutor’s team and inability to compete for the championship).
• Spartak has been without trophies for so many years! Although no, how could we forget the Copa del Sol (Means a trophy in a friendly tournament in the off-season, which is not valued. Such trophies, as a rule, are not taken into account at all).

Basic characteristics of sarcasm.

It is a mistaken belief that sarcasm and irony are similar concepts. - this is a technique used by writers and comedians when the joke looks kind, not malicious or caustic. In essence, irony is the same mockery, but in a positive or comic way. What is the difference between sarcasm and irony?:

• Merciless.
• Angry, caustic.
• Humiliating.
• Making fun of.
• Sarcastic.
• Bitter.
• With a hint of hatred.
• Indignant.

Sarcasm is weapon smart politicians, with which they successfully ridicule the actions of their opponents in public. Using a similar technique, you can “put in place” a lying upstart in a team, placing a caustic emphasis on the person’s mental or professional abilities. Sarcastic expressions should be used carefully so that the cruel joke is both aimed at the target and not expressed directly. IN modern world sarcasm took a slightly different form - trolling. It combines negativity, topicality, caustic ridicule and provocation.

Sarcasm is always ridicule and evil banter in which you can show off smart person, and those around them - impenetrable fools.

Knowing what sarcasm is, you can jokingly offend a person, point out his mistakes, or even offend him. This style of conversation is aimed at making people laugh, but with a hint of dark humor. You can hear sarcasm almost everywhere, from your bosses to your own children.

Sarcasm - what is it?

There are many jokers in our world and they are different. If someone begins to play an evil joke on another, then he uses a technique that since ancient times was considered accessible only to people of high ranks and titles. To understand what sarcasm means, you need to go back to the origins of this word.

It has Greek roots and several translations: “tearing flesh”, “tearing meat”, “biting lips”, probably referring to the state of a person who has heard something unpleasant addressed to him, dressed in the form of a joke. Dictionaries explain the meaning of this word as an evil mockery, an offensive, insulting joke, with the help of which they want to show someone in a negative light.

How to recognize sarcasm?

It is very easy to distinguish sarcastic statements from ironic or humorous ones. Each of them has its own semantic meaning. The least offensive are humorous jokes that can make you think and laugh at a problem or a person without humiliating or insulting him. Irony is a more “poisonous lady.” She can allow herself not only to joke, but also to prick with one phrase or another without too much pain.

Even fleeting statements with sarcasm are especially sharp, poisonous and offensive, but it is important with what message they are uttered. At the same time, the speaker, as a rule, understands perfectly well that he is offending a person, but this is what he is trying to achieve. In this case, it is worth responding to the words correctly in order not to close yourself off.

How to respond to sarcasm?

A difficult and very painful question is how to relate to this speech style on the part of another person and how to react to it. It has been noticed that sharp sarcasm is heard not about everyone, but about those who allow such jokes to be directed at them. Often such a person turns into a “whipping boy”, and everyone and everything is making evil jokes about him with or without reason. You need to protect yourself from offensive jokes and you can do this in the following ways:

• get rid of complexes;
• learn to respond to sarcasm with sarcasm;
• If possible, attend personal growth courses.

Psychologists say that ridicule is allowed towards people with complexes, suffering from various fears or constant anxiety, often without even realizing what they are to blame for. This can continue exactly as long as offensive words will not be heard in response to the offender, and this will be done in public. As practice shows, a sharp, no less sarcastic answer well sobers up the presumptuous joker.

Sarcasm and irony - the difference

In order not to be offended by any joke and not to make a tragedy out of every word, you need to understand where sarcasm and irony are and how they differ. If everything is clear about sarcasm, with the help of which they want to openly offend a person, then irony, having a negative evaluative content, is more veiled. It may not directly, but covertly express ridicule or exposure. Sarcasm is a cruder and more offensive form of jokes. As for irony, it subtle meaning you need to try to grasp what is not given to everyone.

Is sarcasm good or bad?

If we're talking about About those who use sarcastic statements more often, then, as a rule, they turn out to be smart people, but to one degree or another deprived of attention, love, and care. Or, on the contrary, satiated with the blessings of life and considering only themselves worthy of attention. True, such darlings of fate, as a rule, in their evil jokes slide into banal rudeness, ideally not understanding what sarcasm is.

The entertaining art of sarcasm has nothing in common with it, since it presupposes mastery of the word and its skillful use. At the same time, the addressee of sarcasm is quite specific, and the thought, accompanied by a sharp and bad joke- clear. There is no need to guess whether sarcasm is good or bad. Depending on whose hands this weapon is in, the result of its firing may be different. At the same time, we should not forget that the wonderful actress Faina Ranevskaya became famous not only for her acting skills, but also for her sarcastic phrases that are relevant and have long been quoted.

• It's better to be a good man, “swearing” than a quiet, well-mannered creature.
• Horseradish, based on the opinions of others, ensures a calm and happy life.
• Under the most beautiful peacock tail hides the most ordinary chicken ass. So less pathos, gentlemen.
• Why are all women such fools?
• Do you know what it's like to act in a movie? Imagine that you are washing in a bathhouse, and they take you on a tour there.
• To gain recognition one must, even must, die.
• Lesbianism, homosexuality, masochism, sadism are not perversions. Actually, there are only two perversions: field hockey and ice ballet.
• Everything pleasant in this world is either harmful, immoral, or leads to obesity.
• I hate you. Wherever I go, everyone looks around and says: “Look, it’s Mulya, don’t make me nervous, she’s coming.”
• Women, of course, are smarter. Have you ever heard of a woman who would lose her head just because a man has beautiful legs?
• Talent is self-doubt and painful dissatisfaction with oneself and one's shortcomings, which I have never encountered in mediocrity.
• I’m watching this film for the fourth time and I must tell you that today the actors played like never before.

How to learn sarcasm?

Be that as it may, sarcasm implies the impudent behavior of a person and him, but if you start using it incorrectly, you can run into trouble. big trouble. Those who want to make sarcastic jokes should know how to learn sarcasm and irony without putting themselves in an awkward position. The main thing if you want to offend someone is to:

If you quickly begin to practice yourself in ironic statements, then within a month you will be able to show off your eloquence. The main thing is not to go too far, because sarcasm, although humorous, is sometimes offensive. In life, this skill is very useful, because correctly constructed speech with notes of insolence helps to open many doors.

Sarcasm and sense of humor

Almost any speech should contain a piece of humor. Sarcasm is humor, only with the addition of mockery. In other words, these are two styles of speech, the existence of which without each other is impossible. Shy people cannot use them in their speech, and this is where the misunderstanding of sarcasm comes from. By developing one ability, a person automatically learns the second. The main advantage is that by learning to make daring jokes, people can gain status in society.

Greek sarkasmos) - caustic mockery. Sarcasm contains a merciless, destructive assessment of a person or phenomenon, in contrast to irony, where a negative assessment is implied.

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SARCASM

from Greek sarkazo - literally: tearing meat) - satirical in orientation, caustic and caustic irony, making the object of exposure through striking ridicule and mockery phenomena that are especially dangerous in their social consequences. The essence of S. lies in the emphasized contrast between the implied and the expressed (subtext and external meaning). This ironic two-dimensionality is the difference between S. and direct forms of denunciation (accusatory or abusive speech). At the same time, the allegory on which irony is built is deliberately weakened in S., and a negative, destructive assessment is often openly exposed in the text itself. S. can reach tragic intensity. Thus, in the pamphlet “A Modest Proposal” (1729), J. Swift, denouncing a society that condemns people to beggary and hunger, on behalf of a certain projector, sarcastically advises eating one-year-old children and emphasizes that the implementation of this project will alleviate the plight of parents, will improve the economic situation of the people. The sarcastic meaning is inherent in the very title of this work. S. is used as stylistic device in humor and, above all, in satire.

Sarcasm is invariably associated with ridicule. This is the ability to expose shortcomings through negative judgment, sometimes quite harsh. The distinctive qualities of sarcasm are harshness and mercilessness, an expression of hatred. If a humorist exposes shortcomings gently, with sympathy and sympathy, a sarcastic person does not seek to soften words that can hurt.

When did the evil mockery appear?

It is unknown when a person first realized how much one could humiliate an opponent using words. But for a long time, the definition of “sarcasm” has been inextricably linked with political satire. Ancient satirical writers perfectly understood the meaning of sarcastic ridicule and used it as a favorite technique to expose the vices of society and individuals.

The meaning of sarcastic words has not lost its relevance in the modern world. Caustic irony is especially acute in journalism, oratory, and political debates.

Among the classic examples we can mention the statements of J. Swift addressed to the public of England, the works of Rabelais, the pamphlets of Voltaire, ridiculing the church and its ministers.

You can determine what sarcasm is by looking at the literal translation from Greek. Literally the expression means “to tear meat.” And indeed, a thinly placed hairpin can actually destroy external well-being, crush an opponent, and completely destroy him in the eyes of society.

According to its type, sarcasm is divided into obvious and veiled. The latter differs in that in order to assess its severity, it is necessary to possess hidden information. However, it is worth remembering that verbal weapons will become absolutely useless if the person against whom the caustic remarks are directed does not have a deep mind. And if the enemy, on the contrary, is quite skilled in wit, you can lose the battle and become the object of evil ridicule for a long time.

Sarcasm and irony: distinctive features

People often confuse what sarcasm means and what irony means. Ironic expressions are essentially cute jokes, designed in the form of a compliment to convey hidden ridicule to others. The art of irony, expressed in the form of a witty remark, evokes laughter. Sarcastic judgment is caustic and does not provoke fun.

Irony demonstrates an attitude towards a situation or character, emphasizing the absurdity of the situation. Sarcasm is inherent in harsh criticism, causing public censure.

We can formulate several characteristic features that distinguish irony from sarcasm:

• irony - a hidden negative assessment of an action or qualities;
• sarcasm is practically not covered with allegories, accusatoryness is expressed to the maximum extent;
• irony implies ridicule disguised as positive;
• sarcasm is always derogatory;
• irony is an element of a comic style often used in oral speech and works of art;
• sarcasm is a sharp satirical trend used as an accusation in oratory speeches and pamphlets of political and social significance.

If irony can be described as a light joke filled with a special subtext, sarcasm is a sharp ridicule, often masking obscene expressions.

Is it worth learning sarcasm?

Are there ways to learn sarcasm?

A well-rounded person with an excellent sense of humor can, if desired, master this art. But why is it needed?

Of course, if you plan to build a political career or connect your life with journalism, the ability to take a sarcastic look at the state of affairs will be useful.

But in everyday life, such behavior can lead to misunderstandings.

You can easily lose friends and alienate loved ones by filling your speech with caustic ridicule. An ironic person who masters the art of soft jokes will be known as a wit in any company.