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Here’s an interesting question I came across on Reddit yesterday:
Does sarcasm exist in every culture?
Naturally, there were a host of replies. More than one person questioned if the Canadians “get” sarcasm (uh oh, expect to hear a few replies to that statement).
Another replier said they had a “friend” whose family lives in Puerto Rico and they don’t get sarcasm. And according to yet another person, sarcasm in Portugal is practically nonexistent.
Don’t forget about those Japanese:
I lived in Japan for some time, and socialized with many locals, and it does NOT seem to be a part of the culture there.
But, according to a LiveScience article, sarcasm is actually a part of our evolution. If you don’t get sarcasm, then apparently you must have some damage to your “parahippocampal gyrus”, a part of the right brain.
And the reason it is so important to understand sarcasm is due to its impact on our social intelligence, as that’s part of what makes us successful as a species. So if you don’t get that you are the butt of a joke, I guess that means Darwin would’ve sent you to the back of the classroom.
Seems like the consensus over at Reddit is that most cultures use sarcasm to “keep people in check”, to not let achievements go to their head, and to maintain some form of equality.
But I can’t help but question the people who say that foreigners don’t get their sarcasm – maybe because it’s not their native tongue? It’s hard to pick up on the intricacies of sarcasm in a language that’s not your own, but that doesn’t mean those people don’t have plenty of sarcasm happening in their own vernacular.
Luckily here at the Matador Network, we’ve got Nights editors Kate Sedgwick and Tom Gates to keep our witty evolution moving along nicely.
Do you think sarcasm is prevalent in non-Western cultures? Share your thoughts below.
Christine Garvin
Christine Garvin is a certified Nutrition Educator and holds a MA in Holistic Health Education. She is the founder/editor of Living Holistically...with a sense of humor and co-founder of Confronting Love. When she is not out traveling the world, she is busy writing, doing yoga, and performing hip-hop and bhangra. She also likes to pretend living in her hippie town of Fairfax, CA is like being on vacation.
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This is what always troubled mel no matter how long I sit and plan to tell a joke in a non-native tongue, I feel all humor will be lost without the proper inflection, something that I can’t cop from Rosetta Stone no matter how long I play the picture games. IDEA: Rosetta Stone releases a special “Sarcasm” audio chapter.
At the very least, we need to enact a measure forcing all languages to use italics when using sarcasm in text form.
South Korean people don’t understand sarcasm. They understand what a sarcastic remark is masking only if you explain it to them (Except those who lived abroad) They consider it rude. This was one of the discussions we had on numerous occasions with my adult advance conversation classes. My students ranged from businessmen to housewives and they all seem the agree on this matter. So no, sarcasm is not universal to the human race as a matter of fact in my experience it seems to be a Western idea. Also, it seems that poor people with less education seem to use a lot less sarcasm in their interactions.
In the book, Poet and the Peasant, – A Literary-Cultural Approach to the Parables in Luke, page 198, Kenneth E. Bailey analyzes this book, which is found in the Apostolic Writings. He states that the prodigal son’s brother did NOT use sarcasm. “Assumptions of sarcasm must be rejected. (See note 244.) Sarcasm is a non-Middle Eastern form of speech. There is no equivalent in Arabic; I have tried in vain to explain this particular form of speech to my Arab friends and have failed. Irony is known, but not sarcasm.”
I hope this is helpful.
I’ve always joked to my Western friends that Asians doesn’t get sarcasm, like what Vicky said you always end up explaining to them or just saying ‘never mind.’
I’m waiting for the “Rosetta Stone” or whatever edition that has mushmouth teachers with poor diction and words run together, so that I can actually understand something other than written Spanish and Telenovelas. (not sarcasm).
–”Joe was able to understand them, but when he spoke in an ordinary voice he sounded pompous and faggy to them. “
I am Puertorican, and of course we understand sarcasm! very well I think. I’ve always been sarcastic, since I was a child I knew how to be sarcastic and how to understand it. It’s part of every culture, I think the difference is that we all start to understand sarcasm at different points, some learn what it is faster than others, but is not a hard thing to learn, anyone with common sense can figure out when someone else is being sarcastic, at least once.
A little late to the party, but Vicky is right, Koreans don’t handle sarcasm well. A big problem for me, as it is an integral part of my character, and I live in Korea.
I heard a story about an English teacher here a while back. He and his wife, while being shown their new furnished apartment, made the statement how they just HATED the new widescreen TV (in jest). By afternoon, it was gone.