Does Every Culture Have Sarcasm?

Great piece Christine. I wholly agree with you and Hal. It’s less about “not getting” sarcasm and more about the way sarcasm is delivered, I think, that eludes universal understanding. When I was living in Taiwan, it was hard for me to communicate sarcastically, mostly because I would just directly translate in my head from English to Mandarin. That doesn’t work. After a year, I *finally* got it and now, bilingually, can be the raging, sarcastic a-hole I want to be!

“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.”

This was my first thought when I read the opening responses. I would be willing to bet it exists just about everywhere, but I think it is probably one of those cultural nuances that is very difficult to translate.

I would say sarcasm has much more to do with how you say things and the facial expressions that come with it. Even though people from other cultures dont know what I am saying right away, I find that after a short while they eventually get when I am saying a sarcastic or funny remark based on pronunciation and emphasis… and oftentimes arm gestures.

That is also why sarcasm is so hard to display across email.

Wow! That’s so interesting. (Eye roll) I had never (cough) thought of that. You must be very intelligent to have such thoughts, (Smirk, eye roll, cough, sniff, nose scratch)

I never thought much about it, but I agree with others that understanding the language and the non-verbal cues which help with sarcasm are essential. A knowledge of how certain gestures are received in different cultures and inverted meaning (where a single phrase can have a different meaning when used with sarcasm) can also help. I also believe that it’s essential to keep up to date with language. My sarcastic French slang from the 80s might not mean much to people today.

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.

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 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.