Irony and Sarcasm
Start by asking students to think of examples of TV shows or movies where sarcasm or insults are used for humor.
How can you tell when someone is being sarcastic?
Sometimes by their tone of voice. Other times you can tell by the context or by how other people react.
What is the difference between sarcasm, irony or satire?
Basically, sarcasm is when irony is used to insult or make fun of someone, and satire is when irony is used to poke fun at an idea or a group of people.
For the following questions, have students share their opinions rather than seeking definite answers:
Is it funny when characters say mean things to their friends?
When characters are insulted, does it seem like it hurts their feelings?
Would it hurt your feelings if your friends said mean things to you?
What message do we get from a movie or TV show if insults and sarcasm don’t seem to hurt people’s feelings?
Point out to students that in real life (online or offline) words can hurt.
A study of one school found that more than half of the students there used the word ‘gay’ as a general negative word – to describe something they don’t like – at least once a day.
Three quarters of those students agreed that hearing that word used in a negative way could be hurtful, even if it had nothing to do with a person’s sexual orientation.
Now ask:
Is it harder to tell if someone is joking or being sarcastic when you’re online?
Can that make it harder to push back when people are being mean, hurtful or prejudiced online?
Do the same things make it harder to tell if you’ve hurt someone’s feelings when you’re online?
Sarcasm is when you insult or criticize someone by saying something where the apparent meaning is different from its real meaning.
A technique using contrast or contradiction for the purposes of humour or emphasis; for example, a statement that has an underlying meaning different from its literal or surface meaning.
The use of irony, sarcasm, or other forms of humour to expose or criticize human folly or vice.