Do Americans "not get sarcasm"?

[Escapefromwhatever]

Oh, thanks for the insult.

 

[-Samurai-]

No, we do not get sarcasm.

Wait. Was that sarcasm? Damn you plain text!

 

[lukenhiumur]

stupid ones don't. so basically, everything between california and new york

 

[Booze Zombie]

Oh, thanks for the insult.

I was actually a question, but I guess being in a bad mood made me ask it in a way that was probably mildly hostile. Sorry about that.

No, we do not get sarcasm.

Wait. Was that sarcasm? Damn you plain text!

I get it, Internet.

I type like how I talk, though, so I was surprised at the misunderstanding, is all.

 

[Mr. Gency]

I live off of sarcasm, and I've been in America my entire life...

Except that one week I was in Mexico.

 

[Mcupobob]

According to all of my friends who have visited, no. At least, Australian sarcasm just doesn't work over there. A generalization obviously, I think the Escapist is American, but not as much as some other countries.

It was probaly the accent that threw them off(The Australian accent and I'm just speaking what I think and the people I know, think the accent is fun and cheerier.), and sarcasm is really a state thing. If it was a southern or mid-west state then I could see how it would not be able to translate well. The people from there are more straight foward with everything they say. If it was by the coast then sarcasm is used often, for rude and snid comments. Scarasm here is insulting to most people and usally not a humorous thing.

I'm suspecting that this was a failed attempt to get a American hate thread going.

OT: We get just fine thank you very much. Why does everyone form the U.K not understand sarcasm doesn't translate over text very well and jumped to insane conculsions? /sarcasm

I like Americans, no need to jump to conclusions over a simple question.

Well I appoligize then, but your wording of said question came off rude and insulting. I have one question for you though, how do you know it was only Americans not getting your "sarcasm" the web is international and the form you were on prolly was too. Inless of course you knew for fact it was only those dastardly Americans not getting the joke. I highly doubt that though.

EDIT-Quote fix

 

[Canadian Briton]

naah its just that sarcasm dosen't translate well onto the internet.

what the fuck is your avatar man?

its cool

http://senorgif.com/2010/04/22/funny-animated-gifs-myth-busted/
There is a larger image of it. Oh and its Jamie Hynemen playing a saxophone and Adam Savage in a wetsuit dancing.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Well I appoligize then, but your wording of said question came off rude and insulting. I have one question for you though, how do you know it was only Americans not getting your "sarcasm" the web is international and the form you were on prolly was too. Inless of course you knew for fact it was only those dastardly Americans not getting the joke. I highly doubt that though.

Well, I looked at their profiles and names and the people taking issue with me both appeared to be American and that's where I got the impression (I don't hold this as fact, just an idea that got me interested enough to ask a question).

I live off of sarcasm, and I've been in America my entire life...

Except that one week I was in Mexico.

I like that.

 

[SpaceChick]

Americans never get sarcasm because they're Americans, duh!

 

[lizards]

naah its just that sarcasm dosen't translate well onto the internet.

what the fuck is your avatar man?

its cool

http://senorgif.com/2010/04/22/funny-animated-gifs-myth-busted/
There is a larger image of it. Oh and its Jamie Hynemen playing a saxophone and Adam Savage in a wetsuit dancing.

their was some drugs that were done while making that

 

[Canadian Briton]

naah its just that sarcasm dosen't translate well onto the internet.

what the fuck is your avatar man?

its cool

http://senorgif.com/2010/04/22/funny-animated-gifs-myth-busted/
There is a larger image of it. Oh and its Jamie Hynemen playing a saxophone and Adam Savage in a wetsuit dancing.

their was some drugs that were done while making that

That would be an understatement.

 

[Mutie]

Wht always confuses me is when they say "No, I was talking ironically"... That doesn't make sense. You were being sarcastic!

 

[Jonabob87]

Isn't it irony that Americans don't get?

 

[silversnake4133]

I had recently posted a joke in a comment on a website (not naming names) and I was surprised that my throwaway joke was actually taken as a serious comment, with people explaining to me how stupid I was.

One realised and the other now thinks I'm a moron trying to pretend something stupid I said was a joke.
I got to thinking whilst typing up my final response that this only seems to be a problem with Americans, Americans seem to be very literal, their humour kind of blunt and shouty, I suppose.

Am I wrong, do you think or is this indeed part of American culture?
A lack of sarcasm, that is.

Example of obvious sarcasm being used with black and white text:

(Oh sure, we don't get sarcasm... I guess that means that everyone else in the whole world is comparable to Cambridge/Harvard/Oxford graduates with degrees in law, physics, and medicine right? Oh, and I guess you're including the Canadians, the people hailing from Latin America and Mexico, AND the South Americans in that GENERALIZATION right? You're not? Why's that? They have AMERICA in their continent's TITLE don't they? Never thought of that now did you? Or maybe it's just that when the word "America" is thrown about, people from across the various seas instantly point fingers at the people living within the country of the United States of America because we have the name of our continent within the name of our country. I guess the saying "Ignorance is bliss" really is true.)

End example.

Aaaaaaanyway....aside from showing obvious emotion by way of capitalization, spacing and punctuation, literate people aren't going to be able to tell the difference if you choose to use plain black and white text because emotion isn't black and white. Colored text can help describe outstanding emotion while smilies, capitalization, word use, spacing and amount of text will better provide emotion. :] The internet is full of ignorant and sarcastic pricks that love starting flame wars just to see conflict. Therefore you really should carefully read through comments that you're given and try to decipher the commentator's angle before making gross exaggerations that would ultimately create a worse outcome. Generalizations aren't a very good thing to fall back on because most of the time they aren't true and can really upset someone. Whether or not you're using sarcasm, you should keep in mind that not everyone has the same opinions/views as yourself, and some people are more easily offended than others.

Granted, you can't please everyone, but it's better just to live and let live. :]

 

[silversnake4133]

Isn't it irony that Americans don't get?

No, we struggle with hypocrisy, common sense, and chivalry.

 

[Rainforce]

Haven't you heard ? Sarcasm was listed as an Un-American activity during the McCarthy Era and was banned in all states except Texas where they were too dumb to spell Sarcasm, let alone understand it. Now Sarcasm is a lost art-form in the USA except for a surviving Ivy league underground culture which is famous for growing it's sarcasm so dry that they sell it to drug companies to put in little desiccant sachets with your bottles of pills.

Thanks goodness, finally an official explanation. phew.

 

[Booze Zombie]

Generalizations aren't a very good thing to fall back on because most of the time they aren't true and can really upset someone.

Yeah, I kind of got that.
That's actually why I asked a question as opposed to saying "this is true, because...", I'm not enough of an egotistical person to say that because a thought is in my head it must be correct.
That would be just annoying.

Of course, I did formulate this whilst being pretty pissed off, so I apologise if I insulted anyone, you don't need to be dumb to not get sarcasm, though, so I don't know if it was too much of an insult.
But regardless, sorry about that.

 

[Jezzascmezza]

Nah its just that sarcasm dosen't translate well onto the internet.

Couldn't have said it better myself.
You need to hear the tone of voice to determine whether something someone says is sarcasm or not.