Hi, everyone. And welcome back to one of your favorite segments【詞源考古研究所】, In English we call it 【 It means what?】 Hi, 安瀾.

Hi, Lulu, hi, everyone.

So in this segment, 安瀾 and I are going to explore, go to the bottom of the origin of some of the everyday words and tell you the story behind it.

Absolutely.

So which word are we going to talk about today?

We're gonna look at the word Sarcasm.

Oh I love that word.

I thought you might.

Sarcasm, s-a-r-c-a-s-m這個(gè)是諷刺的意思, 對(duì)吧?

Yeah. It means to use irony to make someone feel bad or stupid.

Later on, we can talk about the difference between irony and sarcasm. But first of all, this doesn't sound Greek or Latin to me.

It is Greek.

Is it ?

Yeah. The Greek word is ‘sarkazein’? And it means to strip off the flesh.

把肉生撕下來(lái).

Yes.

Is it just because sarcasm hurts?

Oh yeah, it’s because it's humor that cuts underneath the skin. So how the Greeks imagine sarcasm is that it's actually cut in into someone.

你看中文也有諷刺, 也有 Stabbing.

That brings us to the original question, what's the difference between irony and sarcasm?

Irony is to say or do the opposite of what someone else expects. So for example, when it's really, really wet, it's a really horrible day, someone might use verbal irony.

And say it's a fine day,

It's a beautiful day.

You guys are really good at that.

We are. British comedy relies a lot on irony, so if you can understand irony, then you pretty much understand most of British culture.

你知道我們管這個(gè)叫陰陽(yáng).

Yeah.

But sarcasm, as I understand it is using irony to make other people feel bad or stupid. It's basically using irony as a weapon.

Pretty much. So for example, your hair looks so nice.

Your hair looks so nice, i suppose this really depends on the intonation.

That's the thing. When we use sarcasm, our intonation becomes more exaggerated.

這個(gè)是要跟intonation, 也就是語(yǔ)音語(yǔ)調(diào). For example, if I say , wow安瀾 your hair looks really nice. That's a compliment.

Yeah, it is a compliment.

If I say...if after 安瀾 got like a really bad haircut, it’s like “Wow your hair looks really nice.”

Exactly. That is sarcasm, because you can tell from the intonation that is more exaggerated. And also the word “nice” or “so” or “really” is really stressed.

Is it true that when British people say this is very interesting, it's definitely sarcasm.

It pretty much is.

What does that actually mean?

It means the opposite. It means it's really stupid.

Okay. That's what I'm saying. I think British people basically perfected sarcasm. A lot of English writers definitely.

Absolutely. So we can actually share a few quotes. How about that ?

Okay, of sarcasm?

Yeah, so one of the most sarcastic people who ever lived was Oscar Wilde.王爾德

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.

Yeah I talked about this in one of the previous episodes. It's saying that someone would make people happy when they come, but others will make other people happy by leaving.

Yeah.

I've also seen this one. Some everyday... this is not like by famous people, but I love this one.

You're depriving some village of their idiot.

This I don't know if the audience, if you guys know about this, there's a tradition called village idiot. 就是每個(gè)村都有一個(gè)傻子, and this is basically saying that you're depriving some village of their idiot because you are so stupid, when you're out, these villages, they no longer have an idiot.

Oh yeah. And for example,

I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.

That's not I mean I would say that's pretty apt.

Yeah. But one of my favorites is

If I wanted to kill myself, I would climb your ego and jump to your IQ.

I like this one. So you have a very big ego, but you have a very low IQ.

Yes.

Therefore if I want to kill myself, I will jump off your ego and jump to your IQ .

Jump to how low your IQ ...

What was the original word say that again?

If I wanted to kill myself, I would climb your ego and jump to your IQ.

Okay, I suppose that's what we've learned today.

But then again, I really would say using sarcasm...it's okay in like literary or artistic context. But in everyday life, you ought to be very careful. I wouldn't want to be around people who are overly sarcastic because they can turn a bit cynical.

And then everything they say sarcasm, what do you think?

To be honest, I would say being a bit sarcastic and I'm a bit guilty of that. I do like to use sarcasm. But if you overuse it, then it's just mean, it's not funny,

Exactly. If the other person laughs with you, fine, then your sarcasm is just witty.

Yes.

讓人覺(jué)得會(huì)心一笑, 都還覺(jué)得挺有意思的, 無(wú)傷大雅. But if your sarcasm like what the word sarcasm originally meant, which is stripping off the flash, hurting people, cutting you underneath the skin, then like you said, it's just mean.

Yeah. And to be honest, I would say some of the most famous people who were very good at using mean sarcasm were Winston Churchill and also Groucho Marx. I always remember there's one quote from Groucho Marx I absolutely love.

I've had a wonderful evening, but this wasn't it.

Okay. As long as it's not against a particular person, I'm gonna use that probably in my speech as well.

I love that phrase. That's one of my favorite ones.

It's such a buildup, isn't it? I think a lot of people nowadays like stand up comedy is also because stand up comedies, a lot of them are built on sarcasm.

Yes.

All right. So I think we are going to wrap up here about the word sarcasm. Be careful when you use it, though.

Absolutely. And also be careful your intonation as well, even if you don't want to be sarcastic, if your intonation is not quite there, it can cause problems.

This is exactly why you need to learn intonation because if you don't focus on your intonation, then even compliment can sound like sarcasm.

So leave us comment in the comment section, tell us what is the best sarcastic line you've heard in Chinese or in English, and also put in your request for any other words or phrases that you want to talk about in this segment.

So until next time.

We'll see you next time.

Bye Bye.