Hello and welcome, everyone.
This is Chris, from England.
In this lesson, I'm going to try to explain sarcasm for you.
Please enable "English -- Sarcastic" captions on your Youtube player
to read as I talk.
British people, like me, are known for their use of sarcasm.
A definition of sarcasm is:
"The use of remarks that clearly mean the opposite of what they say,
made in order to hurt someone's feelings
or to criticize something in a humorous way".
Another definition is:
"The use of irony to mock or convey contempt."
I know that, for a lot of people, sarcasm can be very annoying
and difficult to understand.
We have an expression, or proverb, that is:
"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit."
But we do use it a lot, so I'm making this lesson to help you
learn how to recognise it and how to speak in a sarcastic tone.
The problem is we usually do it by using the tone of our voice
to indicate our meaning is the opposite of what we've said.
The crucial thing is the tone of what is said,
so you have to get that right, when both speaking and listening.
I feel the only way I can explain this properly is through the use of examples,
so that's what I'm going to do right now:
FIRST EXAMPLE
"Oh yeah, you've done a really great job there!"
Please listen very carefully to the tone of my voice:
"Oh yeah, you've done a really great job there!"
My sarcastic tone reveals that I actually mean
you haven't done a good job at all.
Almost like I'm mocking you.
We also tend to incorporate positive words
and stress those to give that sarcastic tone,
such as "Oh yeah" and "really":
"Oh yeah, you've done a really great job there!"
SECOND EXAMPLE
"I'm so proud of you."
Here, using the sarcastic tone
with "so" and "proud":
"I'm so proud of you."
THIRD EXAMPLE
This is a very British one:
"What lovely weather we're having!"
Stress on "lovely" to indicate
that we're not having lovely weather at all!
"What lovely weather we're having!"
That concludes this lesson about sarcasm
with three examples.
I hope it was clear.
The important thing is to listen carefully to the tone
and to use that tone if you want to be sarcastic.
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Thank you for watching,
I appreciate your time and support.
I will be back soon,
take care for now and good luck with your English studies.
My name is Chris, I'm from England.
I will see you next time.