Anyone who spends time online , especially in remark sections and forums , has run into one of the major shortcomings of text - only communication : It ’s really hard to convey sarcasm . The gesture and tones that are normally used to broadcast mockery in mortal are all absent in emails , blog posts , or textbook message .
Researchhas even shown that people ( and even highly trained computing machine programs ) ca n’t reliably identify sarcasm on the Internet — as familiarmemeshave alsosuggested , albeit in a far less scientific way .
A novel written report inThe Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology , however , finds that there is a pretty true way to show your reader that you ’re , like , totallybeing sincere , of course of instruction : the winky cheek . A nimble little bat of the emoticon oculus can make “ you ’re terrible ;) ” seem less like an abuse and more like a rib between friend , and " I was rivet ;) " sound like a lament .
In a 2nd cogitation , a newfangled sample of 48 students read short conversations between characters that terminate with a positive or a negative comment like “ I think it was so interesting ” or “ I thought it was so boring . ” Each one ended with a period , a wink emoticon , or an eclipsis , but did n’t at once key the circumstance of the conversation , such as whether the event being described was in reality very interesting or incredibly boring .
“ If a sarcastic comment is written in an ambiguous context ( i.e. , the liquidator can not distinguish from the setting whether the comment is to be interpreted as literal or sarcastic ) , accompanying the remark with a nictation emoticon ( rather than ellipsis or just a full stop ) is a adept direction of reducing the possibility that it will be misunderstood by the receiving system , ” the researchers advise .
There you have it . If you desire to be misunderstood , give ‘em a blink . ;)
[ h / t : Slate ]
