
Tell HN: Web Standard for Sarcasm - jpwagner
In the past, bloggers/trolls/users who are being sarcastic had 4 options:<p>1.  no indication of sarcasm<p>result: at least one reader thinks they are serious and replies with some nonsense response wasting his and other readers' time<p>2.  &#60;sarcasm /&#62; tag<p>result: super dorky, too verbose<p>3.  sw<p>result: no one knows what this means (see #1)<p>4.  ps: i was being sarcastic<p>result: you are also a loser<p>THE NEW WEB STANDARD FOR SARCASM:<p>A committee of supernerds convened the other day and decided the new standard is to only capitalize the second letter of the sarcastic word:<p>for example:<p><pre><code>  Joe: I configurated it yesterday.
  Bob: Configurated?  Don't you mean configured?
  Joe: sOrry!</code></pre>
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paulgb
What a gReat idea.

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gojomo
That some people don't get sarcasm is a feature, not a bug.

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NathanKP
That will be eAsily understood. I prefer the <sarcasm></sarcasm> tags. ;)

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gojomo
I refuse to use this in the title of my forthcoming self-help book, "Sarcasm
Can Be So Helpful In Your Relationships".

~~~
sutro
_Homer:_ Stupid driving test at the stupid DMV where stupid Patty and stupid
Selma work! Sometimes I think God is teasing me...just like he teased Moses in
the desert.

 _Marge:_ Tested, Homer! God tested Moses. And try to be nice to my sisters.
It's very hard on me to have you fighting all the time.

 _Homer:_ Oh, OK Marge, I'll get along with them. Then, I will hug some
snakes...yes! Then, I will hug and kiss some poisonous snakes. Now _that's_
sarcasm.

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trylks
I think there is a typo, you should have written STandard, thus also forming a
paradox :D (have in mind that language is a sort of de facto standard,
otherwise communication would be impossible)

I'll assume you are serious. Capitalizing the second letter you can still be
sarcastic without people noticing it (see #3), you are stating that you are
sarcastic so you are a loser (see #4), and you are a nerd for committing to a
"standard" made by "supernerds".

Sarcasm has existed since the human being exists, probably before, fortunately
we all have now the standard we needed from the very beginning.

See? No paradox here.

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edw519
_A committee of supernerds convened the other day and decided the new standard
is..._

<sarcasm>

Which means that if you're still using ie, you have to continue using the
deprecated standard.

</sarcasm>

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cesare
You forgot 'Great' without exclamation marks (see:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=819160>).

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madair
A wink works pretty good, and often relieves potential tension, i.e. ;-)

And for the people who can get off a high horse about online slang and talk
with a bit of inflection, gratuitous emotional additions like _Whoahohoho_ and
_Ohhhh_ work pretty good too. A lot of people are really too into formal
communication though, as evidenced by those commenting here who don't
appreciate the value of well placed sarcasm.

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olliesaunders
Video subtitlers use this notation: (!) to denote sarcasm. Could we not
popularize that?

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mr_dbr
The "new web standard" is as obscure as "sw", and has various flaws.. Perhaps
the biggest flaw is that the notation does not work for all-upper-case
sarcasm, such as "A web standard for sarcasm? That's REALLY great idea.."

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avalean
How about just adding something at the start of the word. !"#$%&/()='+*

Many characters that can be utilized and are easily added.

I think it's a !great idea

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DenisM
I have a better idea - no sarcasm on HN, at all. Because it usually detracts
from the discussion rather than enhancing it.

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tptacek
tHanks fOr yOur cOncern. But I think we'll be OK.

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DenisM
My suggestion is addressed to the mature HN members that are both able and
willing to engage in a civilized discussion.

Hopefully you and other ethusiasts of flinging the metaphorical poo will not
be able to disrupt the conversation.

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zaidf
Then we can have a sarcasm search engine!

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DanielBMarkham
I vote for super dorky

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jpwagner
nIce!

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bgnm2000
cough.

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notlisted
gOd!

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pwmanagerdied
I actually like this idea quite a bit.

No sarcasm.

