Sarcasm and humour
Me: "Hey, can non-Law people borrow books from the Law Library?"
K: "No! We hate you all!"
Me: "Really?! Then can you help me borrow a book?"
K: "What's wrong with you? Of course you can borrow books from Law!"
Me: "Oh, okay. Um, where's the Law Library?"
K: "Hmm, that's a tough one. The Law Faculty, maybe?"
Me: "..."
***
Throughout most of my childhood (yes, childhood!) and adolescence, the people that I hung out with were pretty receptive to sarcastic humour. It was just something that we doled out naturally, as part and parcel of daily conversation.
It was only in the past couple of years that I've realised that there actually are people who cannot see sarcasm for its comedic value; sarcasm to them is reserved for critical and/or cynical purposes. This was a shock to my entire being.
It's been frustrating at times, to see people take offence at a misinterpreted sentiment, but I'm trying my best; it's difficult to keep quiet when people do or say things that make every bone in your body want to say something snide! (I try so hard that sometimes I can't even tell when people are being sarcastic anymore; see above.) After all, I know that there are things that I draw the line at, but others have no qualms about perpetuating; respect is a two-way street, and I'll try my best to keep in my lane.
On the other hand, I do realise that I, too, am sometimes clueless about the things other people find funny. Like when HW sat me down to watch some Ah Beng clip. He started laughing when the Ah Beng came out wearing a pink feathered boa, and was rolling on the ground five seconds into the clip when the Ah Beng (and his friends) started spouting Hokkien jokes. I stared at HW like he was crazy, and he proceeded to spend the rest of the day trying to convince me that it was indeed a funny clip. ("Because it's like, pink, you know? Funny, right?!") Dude, it doesn't work that way. Will someone keep him in his lane, please?
K: "No! We hate you all!"
Me: "Really?! Then can you help me borrow a book?"
K: "What's wrong with you? Of course you can borrow books from Law!"
Me: "Oh, okay. Um, where's the Law Library?"
K: "Hmm, that's a tough one. The Law Faculty, maybe?"
Me: "..."
***
Throughout most of my childhood (yes, childhood!) and adolescence, the people that I hung out with were pretty receptive to sarcastic humour. It was just something that we doled out naturally, as part and parcel of daily conversation.
It was only in the past couple of years that I've realised that there actually are people who cannot see sarcasm for its comedic value; sarcasm to them is reserved for critical and/or cynical purposes. This was a shock to my entire being.
It's been frustrating at times, to see people take offence at a misinterpreted sentiment, but I'm trying my best; it's difficult to keep quiet when people do or say things that make every bone in your body want to say something snide! (I try so hard that sometimes I can't even tell when people are being sarcastic anymore; see above.) After all, I know that there are things that I draw the line at, but others have no qualms about perpetuating; respect is a two-way street, and I'll try my best to keep in my lane.
On the other hand, I do realise that I, too, am sometimes clueless about the things other people find funny. Like when HW sat me down to watch some Ah Beng clip. He started laughing when the Ah Beng came out wearing a pink feathered boa, and was rolling on the ground five seconds into the clip when the Ah Beng (and his friends) started spouting Hokkien jokes. I stared at HW like he was crazy, and he proceeded to spend the rest of the day trying to convince me that it was indeed a funny clip. ("Because it's like, pink, you know? Funny, right?!") Dude, it doesn't work that way. Will someone keep him in his lane, please?
posted by Laughingcow at 12:58 pm
6 Comments:
heh... when I was in law sch, we did indeed detest the non-law people occupying our study areas during the revision period..
But but but I just wanted a book! And it's the holidays! At least for most people... =\
heh... what book r u getting?
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, which isn't even a law book; don't know what it was doing in Law Library! :p
Wah... so cheeeeeeeem... Tt's it, you're banned from making comments on my blog... cos will either be too cheem or too sarcastic... ::=))
What is cheem? The book?! I was just checking it out because I want to do this arts module next sem and this is one of the texts lah!
Okay okay, I promise to only post superficial and lame comments in your blog. Whatever rocks your boat, baby.
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