Adding "/s" to the end of your message ruins your sarcasm, amirite?

Sometimes you got to die a hero.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Or live as a villain.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Rather, chillin as a villain.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Is that username referencing Twiztid?

by No_Jello 6 days ago

Problem is sarcasm requires tone of voice, and text cannot convey tone of voice.

by RoundPhilosopher9364 6 days ago

Well that certainly didn't make me laugh.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Only by making it obvious to the point it's no longer witty

by Original_Studio 6 days ago

The other way to be obviously wrong, which is fun, because then the people who do actually agree with you will let it be known.

by ExtensionWeather 6 days ago

Right? It's absolutely insane to claim otherwise. Guys, we've been effectively expressing sarcasm via text for literally thousands of years without the "/s."

by ResponseImpossible83 6 days ago

Sarcasm can be delivered with a dead pan expression.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Yes, but often with someone with whom you have a real life interaction (body language, context, situation, relationship, etc. all of which can help you infer the probability of sarcasm).

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Or anyone else. I can tell if someone I don't know is being deadpan.

by ResponseImpossible83 6 days ago

Exactly. A lot of in-person sarcasm is deadpan. Context can often tell you much more than tone can.

by ResponseImpossible83 6 days ago

So we should start using 😐 instead of /s

by Ok-Schedule 6 days ago

Novel authors have managed for decades, if not centuries.

by PaintAccomplished886 6 days ago

Buddy. It's a quick example. I'm not trying to be J. R. R. Tolkien over here. If you can't grasp the point based on what I said, that's because you're being willfully ignorant.

by RoundPhilosopher9364 6 days ago

Yes, with tools like tonality, exposition, character and situation development, etc. That is not the same context as a ten words joke on social media.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Satirists have literally conveyed tone via text for millennia.

by ResponseImpossible83 6 days ago

Yeah, but they use other tools to communicate sarcasm other than just assuming you get it. They may describe tone, facial expression and body language, and we have the entire rest of the book to give us an idea of their personality and views.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Novel authors have managed for decades, if not centuries. they said, sarcastically.

by Prohaskaernesti 6 days ago

not true at all

by Anonymous 6 days ago

"Nuh-uh" level discourse.

by RoundPhilosopher9364 6 days ago

Sarcasm doesn't require tone of voice.

by lindgrenkeira 6 days ago

Say you've never read a book without saying you've never read a book.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

You mean what exactly, my guy? The words are different, my guy? Is it that they're longer, my guy? Please illuminate me to your vast wisdom regarding the world of writing, my guy.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

If tone of voice was so important, why do all of my friends and family think I'm telling jokes when I'm not, and think I'm being serious when I'm making a joke? Riddle me that!

by Anonymous 6 days ago

nO wAY. ItS ALmOst LIke ThERe aRE MUltiPlE WayS tO sHOw EmOTiOn.

by NetworkApart6526 6 days ago

intelligent people figure it out

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Yeah but that's on them. I'll not have my sarcasm naked for all to understand.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Good for you /s

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Thank you

by Anonymous 6 days ago

That makes me feel sooooo bad. In all seriousness though, I'm not saying you shouldn't use other things to make your sarcasm detectable, just that the /s is a lame way to do it.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Not all people are native english speakers. So they (and I)miss some clues. Or background yo it. Then de /s is helpfull

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Well I wish you luck then.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Even then.

by Jgrant 6 days ago

You're totally right, it should definitely be used every single time, it's not as if you can use other context clues.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Forgot the /s

by Objective-Driver-103 6 days ago

remembered the /s

by Anonymous 6 days ago

See, right now, I do know this is sarcasm, but if I hadn't taken Tylenol a few hours ago my migraine would've clouded my judgement and I probably would've taken this as a serious statement. Sometimes you just can't use the various pieces of context clues because you don't see them or don't know what to look for.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

How do you know I wasn't being sarcastic there?

by Jgrant 6 days ago

Not when there's people with that exact opinion out there

by Anonymous 6 days ago

You know you're soaking in it?

by Anonymous 6 days ago

No... The entire point of sarcasm is to express criticism by highlighting the absurdity or irony of something... Also, I think you completely and fundamentally don't understand how language and literary devices work. The entire point is for your target audience to understand you. If they don't you're not being clever, you just suck at communication. If I feel the need to add tone tags, I just put "/s for those who need it. Spoiler tag for the weirdos who are offended by it." in a spoiler tag.

by Popular-Smell 6 days ago

Yeah literally this. Like even in their incorrect perception of what the point of sarcasm means, the tone indicator doesn't ruin it because it helps people understand sarcasm, which is the entire point of sarcasm according to OP.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

What you seem to forget is that language is cultural, and doesn't go by the same rules everywhere. Seems that no one in here actually remembers that. Some cultures require an /s, some don't. Typically Brits need it much less than Americans.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

No I didn't forget that... Every major language is entirely designed to reach out to other people. It doesn't go by the same rules everywhere, no, but if you're speaking Spanish to someone who only speaks English, then you are failing to communicate. It also doesn't change the fact that sarcasm, a linguistic device, is for furthering the purpose of language, which is to communicate with people.

by Popular-Smell 6 days ago

well a lot of people don't understand sarcasm even if it's that obvious it's a joke, so putting it there helps

by Southern-Chance-8028 6 days ago

Except oftentimes sarcasm is also communicated via non verbal cues that are not always easy to grasp through text alone.

by Legitimate-Event-444 6 days ago

Maybe when you're speaking, but in text, the /s is necessary so that the people reading it understand the proper context of your message. You can't hear someone's tone of voice when you're reading text.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

It's not in any way patronizing to add two extra characters at the end of the sentence. Most people will just see it and ignore it if they don't need it or don't find it helpful.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

I only use it when the sarcasm isn't obvious, and many people could think that I was being serious

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Like a lot of things that don't make sense, you're correct, but you failed to account for stupidity.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Poe's law- without a clear indicator of the author's intent, any parodic or sarcasticexpression of extreme views can be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of those view.

by Short_Actuator8144 6 days ago

And after the last 5 years I have learned that no matter how stupid you think something is, someone will believe it with every fiber of their being and repeat sat it in full earnest

by Top-Guarantee3036 6 days ago

It's dumb, but trust me, people are much stupider than you think and you will get hundreds of responses in some cases where the person is taking you seriously. I don't have the patience for that.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

People usually don't get sarcasm, less more if its written but you are right

by Solid-Resort6675 6 days ago

yeah it does. yet another cost incurred because you have to baby things up for the intellectual sloth that is the norm now.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

But if you dont use /s everyone gets really angry and starts threatening you, or reporting you because they think you dont think the same way they do... /s

by Minute-Ad9587 6 days ago

When speaking sarcastically people indicate it with the inflection of their voice. Are they "telling a joke and then immediately starting to explain it."? The / is needed because there is no take so outrageous as to eliminate the possibility that a crazy person somewhere sincerely believes it.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

Not without the context of knowing who wrote it. I remember learning about it in school and the teacher having to explain it to kids who took it straight.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

I think you'll find that's satire, not sarcasm. Swift was rather well-known for it.

by PaintAccomplished886 6 days ago

I don't disagee, but I've been called a fascist too many times without it

by Anonymous 6 days ago

For every overexaggerated statement that you think is so ridiculous that you don't need to specify sarcasm, there is a fascist out there somewhere who believes it.

by wellington44 6 days ago

This seems to be a large group of people that fundamentally do not understand communication. The majority of human communication is nonverbal. Anyone who says that you don't need an "/s" is absolutely clueless. Absent indicators, you are simply interpreting the tone that you want to inject into the conversation. You are filling in the gaps, essentially making up over half the conversation yourself. While a precise, universal percentage is hard to establish, nonverbal communication is generally understood to be a significant portion of communication, often estimated between 60% and 90%. The commonly cited 93% figure, from Albert Mehrabian's research, specifically applied to communicating feelings and attitudes, not all communication.

by Anonymous 6 days ago

I agree to an extent. Text is tricky because you can't convey tone, so sarcasm is way harder to pickup. That's why "/s" is used. But I agree that part of the fun of sarcasm is others picking it up, so the "s/" kind of ruins it.

by Mfriesen 5 days ago

My gripe is I swear people use /s to mean serious too, which is…confusing.

by Jgrant 5 days ago

That's because they use it incorrectly. /srs is the tone tag for serious.

by Anonymous 5 days ago

Supposed to be. People rarely use it though. I can't remember the last time I saw /srs.

by Jgrant 5 days ago

Probably because the default assumption of text is that it's serious, maybe? I also see /gen used a lot for genuine.

by Anonymous 5 days ago

I'm An Old, so /pos still makes me do a double take

by Own-Pollution 5 days ago

So...the point of sarcasm is having it unclear if it's sarcasm? Part of spoken sarcasm is that the tone conveys that it's sarcasm. There is no tone when something is typed, so /s is needed.

by Anonymous 5 days ago

Generally, tone markers are helpful for communicating tone over the internet. You don't know what sort of voice I gave these words as I wrote them. Was it sarcastic? Was it bright-eyed naivety and total authenticity? Was it some mix? Tone markers like /s are an accessibility feature, and I think it is a bad idea to rally against accessibility

by damorepalma 5 days ago

I propose as an alternative using italics to emphasize the sarcasm, or even going full-borat and just saying "NOT".

by Anonymous 5 days ago

Wayne's World. Borat kind of stole it - though it's used ironically by Cohen, who is not exactly as slow on the uptake as Borat;)

by PaintAccomplished886 5 days ago

Having to explain my sarcasm to people also ruins the sarcasm.

by hauckrosa 5 days ago

This should not be an unpopular opinion. It's obviously true. Verbal irony is the point of sarcasm. Announcing you're being sarcastic removes the verbal irony. And yes, it's possible to communicate tone via text. We've been doing it for thousands years before the "/s" came along.

by ResponseImpossible83 5 days ago

If you feel like your sarcasm gets ruined if you say it's sarcasm, then it's not very good sarcasm by your own metrics After all, the whole point of sarcasm is that people themselves must understand that it is sarcasm If you don't indicate that it's sarcasm (because it's through text, and it's much harder to indicate sarcasm through text,) and they don't understand it's sarcasm, then you've failed at what you say is the main point of sarcasm. Also, I've never felt my sarcasm was ruined by indicating that it's sarcasm. Genuinely, I don't understand the argument that it ruins it, because all it does is give the reader the context of how to read that piece of text (which is very important for communication, especially through text.)

by Anonymous 5 days ago

I agree but people online are dumb AF and can't tell when being sarcastic or not.

by Anonymous 5 days ago

Hey an actual unpopular opinion Because it's difficult to know if some things are a joke online. Yes a lot of people can have stupid moments, or lives, and can't tell I definitely have them once in a while but it's usually with the context of something that really should be a joke and wasn't

by AncientBus 5 days ago

How about instead if there was a sarcasm detector. "Oh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention."

by Left-Ad-8246 5 days ago

Agreed 100%.

by SatisfactionDue3771 5 days ago

You are so right, communication shouldn't convey your meaning or message, it's only for the few to undertand, you are such a smart person for understanding that communication isn't to communicate.

by wandatoy 5 days ago

You don't understand sarcasm do you? It's not what you say but also HOW you say it which cannot come across on text. You obviously haven't been on the internet long. If you have you would realize the DRASTIC and sheer volume of opinions on the internet. There no, it was obviously sarcasm, as there's probably someone with that opinion online somewhere who takes that seriously.

by Patient-Conflict5572 5 days ago

I actually agree with this. I don't ever use the /s. Although I do find myself exaggerating just a little bit to make sure my tone comes across.

by PossibleTime8066 5 days ago

It is an unfortunate and necessary side effect of reducing communication down to text only. In order to get sarcasm there is a monumental amount of context needed. Especially if its coming from a stranger. Think about how you know sarcasm in real life? Often you are familiar with the person's speech patterns and tones. Sarcasm can even be lost on strangers off the internet as well.

by AcanthaceaeNo 5 days ago

Sarcasm needs context. If you say something that anyone you know would successfully identify as sarcasm, then that's only because of that background knowledge. If you say something that other people would say unironically, then there's no context for strangers to interpret it correctly.

by Remarkable-Job 5 days ago

Yeah right. /s

by NorthCantaloupe 5 days ago

Eh, when you speak sarcasm outloud, it often has a tone of voice that makes it clear it is sarcasm. This like a question mark indicating the tone for a question. It is far better than the alternating upper and lower case letters at least. That is just painful to read.

by Rohangardner 5 days ago

Unfortunately, the way the world is today, you can't always tell when someone's being sarcastic, especially when it's online and there are no facial cues.

by Maleficent-Bench3728 5 days ago

I think a nice alternative is making the sarcasm more obvious

by Anonymous 5 days ago

I found out that people will assume you're stupid before you're being sarcastic so I have to

by deckowkendall 5 days ago

You can't hear tone through text, and it's primarily used in neurodivergent spaces where some people have trouble with tone and social cues anyways.

by Anonymous 5 days ago

I'm basically of the opinion that if you think making something accessible ruins it, the problem is you. Really good sarcasm is the one that only a few understand You sound like every jerk who makes lame/offensive jokes, then claims that the reason other people aren't laughing is because you're too smart for them to understand.

by IndependentClue5057 5 days ago

wow so unpopular, really have never heard this before

by Cornell92 5 days ago

I never remember if the /s means sarcasm or serious. So I just don't use it. But, yeah. If they can't understand sarcasm, that's on them.

by Anonymous 5 days ago

It's the internet, you can't convey tone which is one of the most distinguishing factors of sarcasm

by InterestingCraft7310 5 days ago

How else am I supposed to know someone is being sarcastic?

by Anonymous 5 days ago

Wow, what an unpopular opinion! /s

by delbert82 5 days ago

The s also helps non native English speakers pick up the sarcasm.

by Janice90 5 days ago