MAKING COMPARISON OF THE DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF SARCASM AND IRONY

Abstract

Sarcasm and Irony have a very close relationship with one another. Both tend to be used to make a poignant or entertaining statement. Often times, people say something is ironic when it is actually sarcastic and vice versa because the two concepts have become so intertwined, whereas, in actuality, sarcasm is a concept that utilizes irony. In many instances, sar-casm is a remark seasoned with irony. You can think of irony as a vessel to express many things in a sarcastic way. For example, if a girl takes an especially long time to get ready as her date patiently waits for her, when she finally emerges, her date might remark with a deadpan tone “Well, you certainly don‟t take long to get ready.” In the circumstance, again, irony is utilized to express the opposite of the actual situation to mock the extended length of time it took for the girl to actually get ready. Irony is employed, but the humor that is achieved though its use is sarcasm. In addition, sarcasm is always considered to be a form of wit, whereas iro-ny can be found in any type of situation, be is funny or quite serious. Irony takes on many forms (generally tragic and situational irony) that are very saddening and in no way considered mockery. In this sense irony is a bit more varied and far-reaching in its scope than sarcasm.