History Main / CannotConveySarcasm

* Dr. Clef from ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' makes it impossible to tell whether he's lying or not, or whether he's even serious or not.

* Simply put, it's ''very'' hard [[PoesLaw to convey sarcasm through an online post]] without somehow marking it as such. Some use mock-html end tags (less-than-slash-sarcasm-greater-than)[[note]]due to recent TV Tropes renovations, faux-HTML now blocks editing[[/note]] or punctuation marks such as a tilde (~), and Wiki/TheOtherWiki has a page about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_punctuation proposed new punctuation marks]], but there hasn't been much consensus, perhaps because on one's sure which proposals are serious. Meanwhile, here at TV Tropes, [[SarcasmMode we don't really have any favorite method.]][[note]][[SincerityMode This only needs to be used when the sarcasm isn't immediately obvious.]][[/note]]

** Absolutely. On Wiki/ThisVeryWiki, one can never, ever, ever tell when a troper is being sarcastic or snarky. Such is the monumentally difficult task of communicating sarcasm through text alone. Because of this, some have a tendency of potholing to SarcasmMode whenever they say anything sarcastic, even when the sarcasm would be very obvious given the rest of what they added (spending an entire addition expressing what a jerk somebody is only to end it with "What a great guy").

''Feygor [[ActuallyPrettyFunny reluctantly raises his hand]].''

* ''WebComic/ElGoonishShive'': Grace very naïve and misses a lot of social cues because she was RaisedInALab. It makes it hard for other characters to tell whether she's making a joke or just being a CloudCuckoolander.

* [[https://www.dailywire.com/news/38440/dillon-australian-universities-are-threatening-ban-kassy-dillon Several Australian universities attempted to outlaw sarcasm]] on the grounds that it hurts. Any possible comment would be overly sarcastic.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wordgirl}}'' has an instance in "The Pretty Princess and Mr. Big Power Hour" in which [[Beleaguered Assistant Leslie]] and Mr Big have an exchange after the latter has explained his evil plan. It turns out that not even ''she'' knows when she's being sarcastic or not.

* ''WesternAnimation/Wordgirl'' has an instance in "The Pretty Princess and Mr. Big Power Hour" in which [[Beleaguered Assistant Leslie]] and Mr Big have an exchange after the latter has explained his evil plan. It turns out that not even ''she'' knows when she's being sarcastic or not.

-->-- '''Cupcake woman''', ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball''

* Maybe [=GLaDOS=] from ''{{VideoGame/Portal}}''. Her being a robot doesn't help. She might not have the intonation, but given that most of her sarcasm is the variety you would expect from a bratty six-year-old, it isn't exactly difficult to make out. At least in the sequel, she is promoted to teenager-level bitchiness.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

'''Homer Simpson:'''[sarcastic voice] Ooh, look at me! I'm making people happy! I'm the Magical Man from Happy-Land, in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane!

* [[https://www.dailywire.com/news/38440/dillon-australian-universities-are-threatening-ban-kassy-dillon 2018 News: Several Australian universities outlawed sarcasm]] on the grounds that it hurts. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Any possible comment will be overly sarcastic, so none is given.]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* In the first "fit" of ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', after Ford and Arthur find themselves on a Vogon ship, Ford deflects Arthur's attempts at sarcasm with disarming fact:
-->'''Arthur:''' How did we get here?\\
'''Ford:''' We hitched a lift.\\
'''Arthur:''' Excuse me! Are you trying to tell me that we just stuck out our thumbs and some green bug-eyed monster stuck his head out and said "Hi, fellas. Hop right in. I can take you as far as the Basingstoke Roundabout"?\\
'''Ford:''' Well, the thumb is an electronic sub-etha device. The roundabout at Bernard's Star is six light years away, but that's more or less right.\\
'''Arthur:''' And the bug-eyed monster?\\
'''Ford:''' Is green, yes.
[[/folder]]

* The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLc8RIdRzio Sarcasm 101 with Matthew Perry.]]" They know what sarcasm is,
but they don't all quite get how to do it.

----> '''EDI:''' I enjoy the sight of humans on their knees.\\

[[folder:RealLife]]

-->'''Marge Simpson:''' Well, Homer, maybe you can take some consolation in the fact that something you created is making so many people happy.
-->'''Homer Simpson:'''[sarcastic voice] Ooh, look at me! I'm making people happy! I'm the Magical Man from Happy-Land, in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane!

* [[https://www.dailywire.com/news/38440/dillon-australian-universities-are-threatening-ban-kassy-dillon 2018 News: Several Australian universities outlawed sarcasm]] on the grounds that it hurts. [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment Any possible comment will be overly sarcastic, so none is given.]]

The {{inver|tedTrope}}sion of SarcasmBlind. Due to some characters' demeanor, it is hard for others to distinguish if they are being sarcastic. In this case it isn't that someone doesn't understand the concept of sarcasm -- it's that someone doesn't understand how to properly use it, despite knowing exactly what sarcasm is. Often they have to alert others that they are in SarcasmMode. May overlap with InsultBackfire.

* [[InvertedTrope Inversion]]: There was an old commercial for ''Starburst'' where a man asked a woman if she wanted a Starburst and she sarcastically replied something like "Yeah, sure I would." He asked her why she had to be so flippant and she sarcastically told him that she has a speech disorder which makes everything she says sounds sarcastic. He got annoyed and walked away, after which she maintained the sarcastic tone and lamented to herself how this speech disorder sucks. [[https://soundcloud.com/drfsupercenter/starburst-commercial]]

* Comedian Rob Newman created a character called Ray who was almost a 100% inversion of the trope: Ray was incapable of saying almost anything ''without'' sounding sarcastic. Even when he suffered life-threatening injuries nobody tried to help him because they thought his cries for help were meant ironically. He did play the trope straight occasionally though: Ray sounded completely sincere on the rare occasions when he ''meant'' to be sarcastic.

* Every so often, Sheldon from the ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' says something sarcastic but does it without much inflection. In one episode, Penny wants Sheldon to apologize to Leonard. When Sheldon refuses, Penny invokes this trope by telling Sheldon to apologize sarcastically. Sheldon agrees, and Leonard never realizes Sheldon is trying to be sarcastic.

** Anya Jenkins, maybe. She is very inept handling human relationships and behaviour, so it is hard to tell for the Scoobies whether she is being sarcastic, just unknowing -- or plain insulting.

* The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' sketch "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLc8RIdRzio Sarcasm 101 with Matthew Perry.]]" They know what sarcasm is but they don't all quite get how to do it.

* In the first "fit" of ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' after Ford and Arthur find themselves on a Vogon ship, Ford deflects Arthur's attempts at sarcasm with disarming fact:

* Maybe [=GLaDOS=] from ''{{VideoGame/Portal}}''. Her being a robot doesn't help. She might not have the intonation, but given that most of her sarcasm is the variety you would expect from a bratty six-year-old it isn't exactly difficult to make out. At least in the sequel she is promoted to teenager-level bitchiness.

* EDI from ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. She slowly becomes increasingly capable at humor, although her capability to convey sarcasm through tone of voice takes a bit more work. In between the six months that seperate the second and third games, she seems to have refined her technique, although she tends to a void sarcasm in favor of [[{{Troll}} messing with her Organic crew members minds.]]

* In ''WebVideo/EdgarAllanPoesMurderMysteryDinnerParty'', several famous nineteenth-century writers gather for a murder mystery game which turns out to be far too real. When the writers start arriving, Mary Shelley makes the lamest joke possible about her own novel. Through a combination of the joke's stupidity and her dead serious delivery, everyone present misses it or charitably prétends they did.
* Simply put, it's ''very'' hard [[PoesLaw to convey sarcasm through an online post]] without somehow marking it as such. Some use mock-html end tags (</sarcasm>) or punctuation marks such as a tilde (~), and Wiki/TheOtherWiki has a page about [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony_punctuation proposed new punctuation marks]], but there hasn't been much consensus, perhaps because on one's sure which proposals are serious. Meanwhile, here at TV Tropes, [[SarcasmMode we don't really have any favorite method.]][[note]][[SincerityMode This only needs to be used when the sarcasm isn't immediately obvious.]][[/note]]

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'', Mr. Herriman tries to receive funding from an EccentricMillionaire, and tells Bloo with obvious sarcasm that he and Mac will get race cars from the money. Bloo's glee at this comment reveals to Mac that [[SarcasmBlind he has absolutely no idea what sarcasm is]], and his attempts to teach him run throughout the episode. [[spoiler: As it turns out, the "millionaire" had no money, and thought his baldfaced lying was sarcasm. [[RuleOfThree Additionally]], Mr. Herriman was telling the truth, and gives Mac and Bloo race cars in the end.]]

** Absolutely. On ThisVeryWiki, one can never, ever, ever tell when a troper is being sarcastic or snarky. Such is the monumentally difficult task of communicating sarcasm through text alone. Because of this, some have a tendency of potholing to SarcasmMode whenever they say anything sarcastic, even when the sarcasm would be very obvious given the rest of what they added (spending an entire addition expressing what a jerk somebody is only to end it with "What a great guy").

'''Arthur:''' Excuse me! Are you trying to tell me that we just stuck out our thumbs and some green bug-eyed monster stuck his head out and said "Hi, fellas. Hop right in. I can take you as at as the Basingstoke Roundabout"?\\

->''The problem with having a sarcastic voice is that no one can tell when you're actually being sarcastic.''
-->'''Cupcake woman''', ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball''

'''Homer Simpson:'''[sarcastic voice] Ooh, look at me! I'm making people happy! I'm the Magical Man from Happy-Land, in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane!
'''[walks out, slams the door, then sticks his head back in]:'''
'''Homer Simpson:''' Oh, by the way: I was being sarcastic.

-->'''Homer Simpson:'''[sarcastic voice] Ooh, look at me! I'm making people happy! I'm the Magical Man from Happy-Land, in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane!
[walks out, slams the door, then sticks his head back in]
Homer Simpson: Oh, by the way: I was being sarcastic.