The Difference Between Sarcasm and Verbal Irony

Ello, there! How is everyone's Saturday going? Mine, too.

Today, I learned something very amazing and frightening. I have been informed (by my text book for my Poetry Writing class) that I have been overextending my use of the word "sarcasm."

Now, before I learned this shocking truth, I have been using the word "sarcasm" very frequently. For example, if someone asked me how my Saturday was going, like I had just done above, and I hadn't been having a very good Saturday, I would respond, "Oh, just great. That's sarcasm, by the way."

-Insert buzzer sound when a person answers incorrectly on a gameshow here-

That is, in fact, incorrect. This is not sarcasm, folks. This is something we call "verbal irony."

You: So, Andrea, what is verbal irony?

Verbal irony is saying one thing when you mean the opposite.

You: But, Andrea, isn't that what sarcasm is?

Yes and no. Sarcasm is a spoke underneath the little verbal irony umbrella. It branches out from the verbal irony tree, if you will. They both require saying something that means the opposite. However, here is where the trick comes in: Sarcasm is meant to injure the feelings of another.

For example, if I am playing basketball (which I fail miserably at, by the way), and I steal the ball (I don't even know if that's the correct term for this), and am being closed in by a dozen other more experienced basketball players who are most likely stronger and a LOT taller than me (I'm a midget), and running to the basket is not an option because everyone is all up in my grill (is that what they call it?), I have no choice but to attempt to make a shot at the half-court line. So, I bend my knees and jump as high as I can--the ball goes flying--the crowd gasps at the incredible risk I am taking---!

--And the ball doesn't even come near to the basket. I have failed miserably at basketball.

So what do my teammates say?

"Nice, shot, Andrea."

That, my friends, would be sarcasm.

In short:

Sarcasm: Saying one thing and meaning another to hurt the feelings of another.
                  Ex: "Nice going."

Verbal Irony: Saying one thing and meaning another. That's it.
                  Ex: "I'm really looking forward to being mocked, whipped, and crucified tomorrow!" -Jesus.

This is verbal irony because He doesn't say this to hurt the feelings of another. Because that would be a sin, and He's Jesus.

We usually use verbal irony more than we use sarcasm, which is good, because sarcasm is mean. Remember, Jesus never used sarcasm. He used verbal irony.

Grammar Fail

I was browsing on Facebook a few weeks ago, and I found that one of my pages posted a photo with cringable grammar errors. But then the majority of the people commenting commented on the incorrect grammar...incorrectly. Past tense and past participle are different things, and people seem to not know the uses for them, which saddens me :[

But yes, the correct way to say this sentence would be "If you haven't hidden."

EDIT: Sorry the photo is so small. It was bigger before, but it was the size of the moon and it looked awkward :(

Introduction to Drey

Ello, fellow bloggers! My name is Andrea. I've never been called Andi, or even Ann. I have, however, been called Drey, Drea, Andrew (from a stranger I spoke to on the telephone who thought I was a man), Adrian, Amanda, and Eddy. The latter is what my brother calls me in his own twistedly endearing way. He loves me deep down, though. I just know it.

Anyhoo, I decided on a whim to begin a blog because I have nothing better to do. No, really. I don't have a chapter to do for College Algebra. Nor do I have a bunch of scriptural readings to do for my Catholic Traditions class. You'd be crazy to think that I actually have a project due Thursday for my TV1 class that I haven't started. What are you talking about?

Okay, fine. I'm busier than a duck. I don't know why I said that or even if ducks are busy enough for this analogy, but there it is. What do ducks do all day, anyway? They cross streets. I would know, because there's a street right by my old high school that always had families of copious ducks crossing the street. And I don't mean two or three ducks, I mean a stereotypical Catholic family of ducks (that's about 9-12 ducks right there). I don't even know where they all come from. But I remember if we were ever late to school, we could just say it was due to the ducks on 9th street, and the secretary would understand.

Okay, I kind of went off on a tangent there.

But anyway, I decided to make this blog because I'm a typical Grammar Nazi who enjoys correcting people's grammar until they want to cut out my vital organs. No one has yet, thank God. Hopefully it stays that way.

I will most likely be posting wonderful grammar-ish things in my spare time and you can either indulge in these grammar rules as I do, or learn from them. Please don't cut out my vital organs. I need them.